Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus
by Kevinwon
Summary: The story continues right off after the events of the first story, Wreck-It Ralph: The Gamer. Josh is living a gamers life until one day his Father's Arcade receives a new game. And that game, Cyrus the Virus shows not all game villains can be trusted. So now Josh and his friends are up against a new enemy. And some new and old characters will join the fight.
1. Chapter 1 - Life of the Games

Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus

Chapter 1 – Life of Games

_The best way to describe how a person is, is there eyes. The eyes of someone tell you everything about them. You look directly at them, you know if there lying…you know if there nervous…you know if there hiding something from you. The eyes of someone…or even a video game character. Behind those eyes, you think there's nothing but endless codes of programming. You are so wrong…_

Two years have passed since Josh discovered the biggest secret in his families Arcade. When the lights go out and no one is around, the games come to life. They leave their games and interact with the other various game characters connected to Game Central Station. They talk, they eat…and they live. Something Josh Litwak, the owner's son never saw coming. And everyone else who knew him as the Gamer, would have never had thought something like this would ever exist.

Do to the rough living life of Josh; Josh was on the verge of running away and never returning to his home again. After his brother's death, he blamed himself for it. So one night when Josh was all alone in the Arcade, he slipped and fell on a ripped power cord that shocked him hard on his head. Thinking he was dead, Josh found himself inside the games he always played at the Arcade. And actually meeting the characters of the video games, and learning what they do when all the gamers leave. Josh shined the spotlight that not only did he know everyone, they knew him especially.

Upon his week stuck in the Arcade, his father decided to close the Arcade for a week, so no one knew that he was even there. Josh took it upon himself to learn how he got there in the first place. And learning something he never thought was possible, he was glitching. Not knowing and not even understanding how this was happening, he met a little girl named Vanellope from _Sugar Rush_. A racing game which consists of endless candy everywhere, even the cars were made out of candy. She taught him about 'glitching'. Upon learning that, Josh was able to glitch into any game like he belonged there in the first place. Vanellope finally found someone else that did the exact same thing as her.

But not everyone was happy with Josh. Various video game villains's found him to be obnoxious. So they wanted to take out some revenge on him for beating them every time and seriously enjoying it. So in Game Central Station, all the villain's wanted a shot at Josh, but he fought them all without even breaking a sweat. And everyone in Game Central Station saw what Josh could do, especially Ralph.

Josh knew Ralph from _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,. _He apologized to him for all the times he watched him get thrown off the roof of his game. But Ralph accepted it and knew that it was his job to be thrown off either way. With that said, Josh even admitted that he was Ralph's favorite character to begin with. The two became friends on the spot. But not everyone at first became quick friends with Josh. And that someone was Sergeant Calhoun.

Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, she's from the game _Hero's Duty _and the way Josh met her, he'll never forget. The two drove each other nuts all the time. Getting on each other's case, Calhoun never wanted Josh to be there in the first place. He should have never discovered the secret of the Arcade. But as time when on, Calhoun learned a secret about the Gamer as well. And the two shared a common thing between each other. It's not the prettiest of friendships, and they may not show it, but Calhoun and Josh…they at least trust each other.

Then Josh met Felix from _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,. _And boy it was wild ride with this short guy. Josh's mouth dropped when he learned that Felix was Calhoun's husband, and she was his wife! The details were yet to be explained but Josh couldn't believe it. Life inside the Arcade was as real as if it were life on the outside, but these characters were real people. Living, breathing people.

So as the week went by, Josh discovered 'codes' from all the games he played. Beating each one and having them upload into his watch he used to transform himself into a different avatar. Josh decided that, 'change' isn't such a bad thing. Before all this started, Josh's Mom, who he thought blamed him for his brother's death, that Josh should stop acting the way he does all the time and change into someone else. Josh didn't want to change because he promised his brother that he would never stop being who he is. And so Josh kept that promise, for himself, and for Jason.

Josh decided that the games he played needed a 'change'. He's played them enough times to play with his eyes shut. So he changed how the game was played. Calhoun didn't like the idea at first, because if a game is acting suspicious, then Josh's father would unplug the game and everyone and anything left inside it when it gets unplugged, is gone forever. Josh realized then all the games his father unplugged through the years are homeless and living it out in Game Central Station. So Josh made sure he didn't change too much before the Arcade opened back on Monday. But something worse than any game being unplugged from Game Central Station was about to come forth, Josh's evil side, Beta.

You can say having Josh as your friend, he'll never let you down or ever do anything bad towards ya. But that's the side of him you see all the time, but other times, Josh turns himself into Beta, another person Jason called him when he wasn't acting like his usual self. Beta was the part of Josh that he hated. Sometimes Josh didn't even know he was Beta because he took over him. But Beta had enough of being blamed for everything that's happened in Josh's life and he was tired for 'losing' all the time. So with Beta's tricks and fooling Josh around, Beta manifested himself out of Josh's mind and was able to escape the freedom of Game Central Station.

Beta was destroying everything Josh had accomplished in Game Central Station through his time there. He was making every game character's life miserable, especially Vanellope. Josh saw Vanellope as a sister he never had, but she reminded him of Jason. So Beta knew Vanellope was close to Josh's heart. So everything Josh could do, Beta could do also. But there was one thing Beta did not have, the codes. The codes to all the games that make up everything. If Josh was able to change the games the way he wanted, Beta wanted to do the same exact thing but turn all the games into losing one's so they get purposely unplugged. But Josh wasn't going to let that happen. So he, and his friends did everything they could to stop Beta.

Discovering that the only way to stop Beta was to erase himself, Josh came to the conclusion that he didn't belong at Game Central Station in the first place and that he didn't want to have everything and everyone in danger because of him, and Beta. So Josh swallowed what left of humanity he had left and finally beat Beta, by killing himself. The only way to destroy the copy is to erase the original. Everyone was sad to see Josh finally gone, especially Vanellope. She cried her eyes out seeing Josh gone, but that wasn't going to happen, not after everything Josh went through.

The codes reappeared again, giving Josh a second chance. Like regenerating of any game character of the Station. Josh found out he's been given a second chance, and finally the doorway back to his world had opened. Saying goodbye to his friends, he waved goodbye one last time to them and he disappeared. Reawaken back in his body where he fell, Josh found himself back in the Arcade, and a whole week gone by.

Asking a million questions of his whereabouts, his Mom and Dad wanted to know where Josh went. Just telling them he was in the Arcade the whole time he was gone, he kept it to himself where he really was. Like they'd believe him in the first place right? Who would believe him? Finally able to let go of what happened to his brother, Josh finally sees the person he truly wants to be. Himself of course. That's all Jason ever wanted. But something still was missing, and that was his friends. Would Josh be able to return to the gaming world of Game Central Station and to see his friends again? You better believe it.

Seeing it as another night of the same routine, Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun go on about their business. But discovering odd things happening around them, they discover that Josh has come back to see them, and that he's discovered how he can come and go any time he wanted. So that's what Josh has been doing. And as the time passes by, Josh has taken up the interest of becoming a video game designer. Living alone in his big apartment surrounded by electronic equipment, it seems the Gamer now, is the Game Designer…

Josh's Apartment

Bathroom…

Josh blinks several times staring at himself in his bathroom mirror. He just stares at the color of his eyes and checks to make sure something he ain't missing. Josh sighs softly and moves away from the mirror.

"E.D.I.? How much are contact lenses going for nowadays?"

"Prescription or colored ones?" E.D.I. asks from a female voice around

"Colored. Last time I checked I have perfect eyesight."

"Depending on the brand, colored contact lenses range from thirty dollars to fifty dollars. Would you like for me to bring up a search of nearby stores?"

"Nah, I was just wondering. My brown colored eyes seem to fit me just fine. Besides, having fake eye colors wouldn't seem real enough to me anyway." Josh explains leaving the bathroom

Josh enters the main room of the giant Apartment. The ceiling is really high up. Josh's Apartment sits on top of a closed down factory below. Josh managed to change the style of the upper floors to suit his tastes of the place. The main kitchen is in the far left corner of the room. His living room, sits a long extension of a leather couch with a giant flat screen TV mounted on a wall between the windows of the room.

The other corner of Josh's Apartment has a bunch of electronic equipment from various types of gaming machines and computer hard drives. Wires are scattered everywhere and several machines are broken up into millions of pieces. Generators run smoothly behind all the equipment because they suck so much energy. But shockingly, with all this high tech equipment lying around, Josh has an old record player on his gaming self with all his various video games from different systems. From today's video games to the 1990s style video games. Almost like a museum of gaming paradise for Josh. Josh walks over to the kitchen and around the counter.

"E.D.I.? Today's weather and schedule please."

"The weather for today will set high in the eighties. No clouds will be in the sky. Clear sunny day." E.D.I. explains

"Mmm-hmm." Josh says pouring himself a cup of coffee

"And your schedule for today is you have class at 11:30. Westwood College with Professor Arthur. Your texture and design level is due in two weeks."

Josh smiles.

"But the amazing part is that I have it done."

"Yes you have. Shall I download it onto your portable hard drive?"

"Please and thank you E.D.I."

Amongst all the equipment around Josh's work area, a small portable hard drive that's still intact flashes different colors showing that it's being downloaded with Josh's work. Josh looks at it across from the room and watches it stop flashing. He nods and sets down the cup of coffee. Josh walks over and unplugs the hard drive out of its connection. He walks over to his bag and puts it in. Josh zips it up and looks around the room.

"E.D.I., fast route to Westwood please."

"Uploading to your navigation system now. Main streets are bumper to bumper at the moment', Josh slides his bag over his shoulder, 'But I've calculated that if you use the route I created, you will arrive at Westwood in twenty minutes." E.D.I. explains

Josh walks to the freight elevator of the Apartment and slides it up. He looks back with a smirk on his face.

"Where would I be without you E.D.I.?" Josh asks sliding the door down

"To my understanding, you would be completely stuck and perhaps lost."

Josh shakes his head.

"I shouldn't have asked."

Josh hits the switch and goes down the elevator.

Garage…

Josh makes it to the garage and throws up the elevator door. He steps down off the loading dock and walks to his motorcycle. A MV Agusta F4 CC. Josh throws off the cover and the pure black color of the bike shines. He nods and hops on top of it. In another part of the garage, Josh's 'repair' shop has a car half covered up. He's rebuilding an old Dodge Charger. Extra lights shine on certain parts. It's mostly a shell, but it's a work in progress. Josh turns on the engine of the bike and rolls the throttle back several times. The motorcycle's engine roars in the empty garage. Josh smiles.

"That never gets old."

Josh holds the brake and spins the bike around as the tire burns rubber creating smoke. He looks at the door of the garage and speeds ahead. An up to date camera sees Josh riding fast towards it. E.D.I. sees Josh and opens the door for him. As Josh rides away, the door closes behind him.

Streets…

Josh with his helmet on looks down at his navigation system pointing out where to drive. The needle changes pointing to turn left up ahead and Josh does it. The other way, which is right, is blocked off by heavy traffic. Josh can just hear the horns honking.

20 minutes later, near Westwood College…

Josh rides up on campus and pulls up into a spot. He turns off the bike and looks at his watch. Josh shakes his head seeing the time.

"Exactly like you said E.D.I. Exactly twenty minutes."

Josh hops off his bike and walks to class.

Professor Arthur's Class…

Class has begun the second Josh walks in. Professor opens his laptop and looks at everyone.

"All right, let's begin', looks around, 'Is everyone here? Yes? No? Good. So let's start…" Professor Arthur says looking at laptop

Josh slowly puts his head down and keeps looking ahead.

"You all know your rough designs are due in two weeks. The level you can make can be of anything, get it to a point where it looks real enough. Any questions?" Professor Arthur asks

Josh lifts his head up and raises his hand. Professor Arthur sees.

"Yes Mr. Litwak?"

Josh clears his throat.

"I'm actually done with mine Mr. Arthur', everyone looks shocked and they all turn at Josh, Professor Arthur looks stunned, 'Could you look at it?"

"You, you have it done?" Professor Arthur asks

Josh nods.

"Yeah. Could you take a look at it?"

Professor Arthur shrugs and rubs his face.

"Sure. I guess."

Josh nods with a smile knowing he's done the impossible.

Little while later…

Professor Arthur checks out Josh's design of his level. He looks at it on a flat screen and checks out the level thoroughly. Professor Arthur is just stunned.

"In all my years of teaching this class, I've never seen level design quite this good."

Josh smiles laughing under his breath.

"Thank you, thank you."

"Look at these trees. The wind blowing against them. It's so life like. It looks as if I'm watching a movie."

Josh just takes in all the glory.

"I try."

"You're so far ahead of everyone Josh; it's amazing how fast you get this work done."

Josh shrugs.

"I have a lot of time on my hands, that's all I can say."

"This work here takes weeks to get done. Especially if there this good. How long did it take you to do this Josh?"

Josh thinks for a moment.

"Uhh…about a night."

"A night!?"

"Well when I woke up it was morning so it took me a night to do it."

"That's…that's impossible Josh."

"Not impossible, to you it seems impractical."

"Still, this is impossible work to get done within a few hours.', Josh leans against a rack and Professor Arthur just looks, 'Seriously Josh, what do you do?"

Josh shrugs.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Josh listen to me', Josh looks funny at Professor Arthur, 'I had a student one time who was a caffeine addict. He was seriously trying to get a sugar rush going', Josh smiles hearing that, 'he thought that if he worked all night on it, it would turn out great. Turned out he had a seizure disorder that he didn't even know about."

Josh gulps.

"Is he alright?"

"Oh he's fine. I still see him on a regular basis. He was one of my brightest students', Josh nods, 'You're not doing anything crazy like that are you?"

Josh sighs.

"I have my usual cup of coffee in the morning. That's the only 'sugar rush' I get."

"What then?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"I'm telling you, you're not going to believe me."

"Try me."

"Does it matter how I do it as long as I get it done?"

"I'm just curious Josh, that's all. You're ahead of everyone here. I give out the assignment thinking I won't have weeks, nearly a month to check but you just bring it the next day."

Josh shrugs.

"I like playing video games. I also like making them. One day I hope."

"So did I when Atari came out."

Josh backs up.

"Whoa! That's way to old school for me sir."

"I still have the one my parents gave me."

"And it still works?"

"A few glitches but works like a champ."

"God…you still got _Pong_?"

"That's one of my favorite ones."

"My Dad's Arcade, Litwak's Arcade, ever heard of it?"

"My brother's son had his birthday there a few weeks ago. Told me it's a nice little Arcade."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Little? Anyway, all my life I've played the games there. I love them all. You'd find my name on all the high scores there."

"You spent a lot there huh?"

"Nearly fifty bucks a week."

"Fifty bucks a week times fifty two…that's over $2000."

Josh puts his hands up.

"Hey, I learned how to get fast cash.', Professor Arthur narrows his eyes, 'Trust me, you don't want to know exactly what I did."

"Then I won't ask. But what does this have to do with how you get your work done?"

Josh sighs.

"Something happened to me when I was in the Arcade. Something…that I never would have thought. Or even existed."

"What?"

Josh sort of smiles.

"I discovered something that nogame designer would have ever thought."

"What?" Professor Arthur asks being a little impatient

Josh shrugs.

"Life continues on."

Professor Arthur narrows his eyes.

"Life continues on? For what?"

Josh smiles.

"The games of course."

Professor Arthur just shakes his head wondering what Josh even means. He doesn't exactly make sense but the idea rests in Arthur's mind.

"Okay. However you get it done, makes no mindset to me."

Josh nods.

"Okay."

"Well as long as you're ahead of everyone. I might as well give you the final project."

"Yay. More fun work."

"Oh this won't be fun. Especially for you Josh."

Josh rolls his eyes knowing that it'll be another piece of cake.

"I want you to take everything you've learned. Design a short game with characters and events."

That, catches Josh's eye. He slowly turns and looks confused at Professor Arthur.

"What?"

"I want you to design a level with what you've learned."

"No, no. After that."

"What? Characters?', Josh nods, 'Yeah. I want you to design a protagonist of your game. Shouldn't be too hard for you."

Josh gets somewhat uneasy about the idea.

"You want me to…design a character from scratch?"

"Is there a problem?"

Josh slowly drifts off thinking about the idea.

"Uhh…not exactly a 'problem' but…can't I just do with what I have and turn 'that' in?"

"What? Do everything beside the character design?"

"Yeah." Josh says nodding

"No. No you can't Josh. A game without characters is pointless. You create great story ideas for the plot and your level design is beyond anything that I've ever seen before. You have to add characters so the player can interact with everything."

Josh sighs.

"I still don't know. Creating a whole new character from scratch…', Professor Arthur just listens in, 'What if I design a character and they don't like how they act? What if they don't want to be who they are? Anything can go wrong. I'm telling ya. He or she might…', Josh turns and sees Professor Arthur looking at him like he's nuts, Josh gulps and shakes his head, 'In the matter of speaking…I'm just saying…He or she, the character I might design…might not…like themselves."

Professor Arthur just blinks and slowly walks around Josh.

"Josh, no offense. But if I hear you talking about video game characters as if they are real…you're out of my class for good."

Josh laughs nervously and wipes the sweat off his forehead.

"Slip of the tongue there Josh?"

Josh grabs his hard drive and leaves the room.

Outside in the parking lot…

Josh hops on his bike and looks around. He just about puts his helmet on but suddenly Megan from his class stops him.

"Josh! Hey Josh!', Josh holds down his helmet and watches Megan get closer, Megan approaches Josh, 'You going home?"

Josh blinks and looks around.

"Uh, not yet, I have to stop somewhere else first."

"Are you done with the level design assignment Arthur gave out?"

"Yeah. Finished it last night and turned it in."

"Wow. You're quick at getting this work done."

Josh shrugs.

"If you want to be a good game designer there's nothing wrong with showing a little initiative. Especially with the stuff I like to do."

"I noticed that."

Josh narrows his eyes.

_I honestly don't see how Megan here can take an interest in game design. She looks more like a lawyer or perhaps a doctor type. Judging by what her eyes are telling me, there's going to be a little seductive and a lot of trickery._

"Maybe…you can show me how you get done with everything so quickly."

Josh slowly nods and looks down at his helmet. Megan waits for an answer and Josh just sighs.

"Sorry Megan. Not interested."

Megan looks completely shocked.

"Find your own way to finish your work. How I get it done is no one's business."

Josh throttles his engine of his bike and throws his helmet on. He speeds out of there and Megan just watches.

"What a dick…"

Josh rides away quickly and heads straight to Litwak's Arcade.

Later…

Josh rides through the parking lot of Litwak's Arcade. He rides his bike through parked cars but he slows up seeing a semi-truck parked right in the front doors of the Arcade. Josh slows up and parks. He hops off his bike and walks over to the entrance and sees moving men unloading a large game off the truck. Josh slowly takes off his shades seeing these guys struggling taking the game off the truck.

"Watch it! WATCH IT!" Mover yells

"Got the back end?" Mover 2 asks

"Okay, easy now. Slowly lower it." Mover 3 orders

Josh shakes his head. They manage to get the game down, but Josh takes notice how long it is. He whistles and the guys put it on pallets and jacks. Josh stands back as they open both doors to the Arcade, but as they move to the doors, they get stuck because the game is longer than the two open doors. The men see and struggle.

"It's not going in." Mover 2 says

"It has to go in. Open the doors." Mover 3 orders

"They are open, look!"

The men struggle as the game won't budge. Josh shakes his head and looks at them all.

"Um, excuse me, gentlemen.', the Movers look at Josh, 'Here's a suggestion that might help with your cause. BEFORE you unload it, check to make sure that it even fits through the front door.', the Movers look at each other in a dumb way, Josh shakes his head, 'Had a problem the last time you three were here. And still three brains don't make a whole." Josh says sliding his way into the Arcade

The three look at each other disgusted and continue to struggle getting the game into the Arcade. Inside the Arcade, Josh walks around and sees the various kids around playing the games. Josh sighs softly and spots his Father, Mr. Litwak handing out quarters. Josh smirks and walks his way towards the back of his Father.

"Here you go kids." Mr. Litwak says handing out quarters

Josh secretly sneaks up behind his Father. He clears his throat and sounds like a child.

"Mr. Litwak? Can I have a quarter please?"

"Sir thing', turns around, 'Here you g…', sees Josh, 'Josh!"

Josh nods and the two hug.

"You should have called."

"I was on my way over and wanted to say hi."

The two back up from each other.

"Does your Mother know you're here?"

Josh shakes his head.

"I can't stay for long I got a lot of work to do."

"How's the whole game design going?" Mr. Litwak asks walking around

The two men walk around. Josh shrugs.

"Well you know me, anything for a game I suppose."

"You like playing them, might as well make them."

Josh nods.

"Right."

"How long has it been since you were last here? I forget."

Josh thinks for a moment.

"A month I believe."

"Right. A month. Some of the kids here were asking about you."

"Hope they were good things."

Mr. Litwak smiles.

"Nah, just small challenges against the legendary 'Gamer'."

Josh sort of smiles.

"That's why the Gamer is still a 'legend'."

"Oh come on now Josh, you have time to play right?"

"Barely. With all the work I have, I'm surprised I have enough time to do anything."

"Welcome to life son."

Josh rolls his eyes. A loud bang is heard and the two turn around. Josh and Mr. Litwak see the Movers managed to get the game into the Arcade.

"Finally." Mr. Litwak says

Mr. Litwak walks over to the men as they set up the game against the far wall. Josh rolls his eyes and walks over towards them. The Movers throw the covers off the game but the game is still inside a wooden crate. Mr. Litwak claps.

"Well thank you guys, good work."

Josh rubs his eyes.

"They couldn't even get it through the door. How did they even manage?"

"All right, tomorrow I'll open this baby up and hopefully this'll bring more kids here."

Mr. Litwak walks way and Josh looks back and forth.

"Wait, you're not even going to open it?"

Mr. Litwak looks back.

"It's getting late and I don't have time to set it up. Besides I got to find an open spot on the surge bar to plug it in."

Josh looks back at the crate of the game and back at his Father.

"Right."

Josh sighs and yawns loudly. Mr. Litwak looks back and sees his son exhausted.

"When was the last time you had a good night's rest Josh?"

Josh rubs his hair back.

"I can't even remember."

"Late night playing video games?"

"No. Late night designing them Dad. I work a lot on my hard drive and it just seems when I'm… 'Connected' to it, I forget how much time passes by."

"Then you should lay off a while from it, no?"

Josh shrugs.

"I just can't help it."

"Well, don't go overboard on it."

Josh rubs the back of his head in a certain spot.

"It's hard to break the habit."

Mr. Litwak laughs as he walks further away. Josh puts his hands in his coat pockets and takes a step, but as he walks forward. A slight whisper is heard.

"Huh?"

Josh looks around wondering where the whispering is coming from. Suddenly the game that's still in the crate lightly lights up. The games lights shine through the cracks and Josh continues to search around for the whispering. He moves closer to the crate and feels as if the whispering is coming from the game inside the box.

"Is something in there?"

Josh puts his ear to the crate and suddenly he burns his ear.

"Ow!"

Josh rubs his ear and looks back at the crate. He slowly puts his hand towards it and touches it softly. But nothing happens. Josh looks at his hand and sees that it's not burnt, but, what burnt his ear?

"What kind of game did you buy Dad?"

"Josh?" Mr. Litwak asks from across the room

Josh looks back and back at the crate.

"I'm coming."

Josh turns around and walks away. And as Josh walks away, the crate shines again from the game peeping through the cracks.

Later…

Outside in the Parking Lot…

Night has come; Mr. Litwak opens the door to his car. Josh hops on his bike.

"It was good seeing you Josh."

Josh nods.

"Yeah, I'm glad I swung by I needed to see some familiar territory again."

"Are you going back home now?"

Josh looks around.

"Uhhh, not yet. There's some other friends I have to say hello to first."

"Oh. Well. Good night Josh. See you next time."

Josh nods.

"Bye Dad."

Mr. Litwak nods and gets into his car. He starts it up and drives away. Josh just watches and looks back at the Arcade. He gets off his bike and enters the Arcade.

Litwak Arcade…

Josh enters the Arcade and sees the games still playing. He spins around and sees them acting like they normally do.

"Really? Guys, it's me. Josh. You can quit the charade."

Josh sighs and sees no changes.

"All right. Fine."

Josh walks to the power surge that connects all the games together. He pushes two arcade games to the side and spots the surge bar.

"Hello Game Central Station."

Josh walks away and brings back a chair. He sets it up against a game console. Josh reaches in his pocket and pulls out the cord that connects the hard drive to an outlet. He finds an open slot for him to plug in the hard drive and snaps it together. Then Josh pulls out a cut wire he made, and as Josh connects it to the hard drive, it sparks showing it's connected.

"I'd say that's live."

Josh finally pulls out some tap and tapes the wire alongside the game console. He then sits down and taps the wire where he's going to place his head. The wire sparks some more and Josh sits forward. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.

"And this is the hard part."

Josh slowly sits back and puts the back of his head over the exposed wire. It shocks him and Josh shows it. He clenches his fist and suddenly, Josh faints and drops his head. Josh looks like a paralyzed corpse slowly drooling out of his mouth. But suddenly the wire that's connected to his head lights up showing a small blue light traveling down to the hard drive. Josh is on his way to Game Central Station.

The end of Chapter 1…

Preview of Chapter 2…

Before heading to Game Central Station, Josh bumps into E.D.I. and her interface. He explains to her in her visual form that he'll be back. And upon going to Game Central Station, various game characters recognize Josh. But as Josh returns to the gaming world, he brings along a strange looking staff. Josh looks like he almost uses it as he did with his watch but this time it's in the shape of a cane like stick. And with that stick, he can do whatever he wants because he still has the codes. Finally we see some familiar looking faces who are pleased to see Josh has come back. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 2 - Balance


	2. Chapter 2 - Balance

Chapter 2 – Balance

The light of the wire that Josh uses moves all the way down to his hard drive. The light approaches Josh's hard drive and enters inside it.

Inside Josh's Hard Drive…

Its pitch black all around. But soon we find Josh lying down on his back in the center of the room. He opens his eyes and sees the one tiny light in the entire room lit. It's not that bright, but it shows a clear view of Josh's surroundings by at least twenty feet. Josh doesn't move yet but he's able to move his eyes. Footsteps are heard, Josh recognizes them and E.D.I. appears, in a human like body. (Think of the actual E.D.I. from Mass Effect 3). E.D.I. holds a digitalized chart in front of her.

"Establishing connection. Conscious connected. Brain function connected.', Josh moves his arms and legs around, 'You are now connected Josh." E.D.I. says looking down

Josh pushes himself up and feels his chest. E.D.I. watches as Josh stands up and feels the back of his head.

"I'm not so sure, but that shock kind of hurt."

"Power sources differ from different locations. Your home gives off less energy that is required unlike your father's Arcade which requires more energy to keep running." E.D.I. explains

Josh nods.

"You could just say there's more electricity running through this place then my home E.D.I.', E.D.I. just stands there and says nothing, Josh sees, 'And why do I bother?"

Josh spins his wrists around to get feeling in them. He sighs softly and throws down his right hand, and all of a sudden a staff appears that lights up. A cane like stick that Josh stares intently at as it shines.

"Most powerful weapon that I've ever made before.', looks at E.D.I., 'How do I look E.D.I.? Do I look good enough to run into my friends?"

E.D.I. doesn't say anything. Josh rolls his eyes.

"Upload a mirror for me E.D.I."

"As you wish Josh." E.D.I. says uploading a mirror

Josh waits as a mirror suddenly appears in front of Josh. Josh checks himself out making himself look good for meeting his friends. He brushes back his hair and shakes his head. Josh pats off his black leather coat leather coat and checks out his All-Stars.

"Just like old times', looks at staff, 'Except this time without the watch.', Sighs slowly, 'Improve yourself. Upgrade your technology."

_I found out that when I transferred into my Hard Drive that my watch didn't have the capacity to withstand the amount the energy need for me to do what I wanted to do. I know I left my watch on Jason's tombstone but I was afraid that someone might have taken it so I took it back. It sounds kind of selfish but…it's an important piece of memento for me. So now with this staff I have, (It looks like a can, but I call it a 'staff') it's basically like my watch but just in a staff like lookalike. Besides, it looks really cool. I can do anything with this thing._

Josh looks at E.D.I.

"I'm going in E.D.I.', E.D.I. just watches, Josh looks at E.D.I., 'Hold the fort, I'll be back in a few."

Josh walks ahead to the direction of Game Central Station. E.D.I. watches.

"Shall I prepare something for your return?" E.D.I. asks

Josh spins around looking back.

"Uhh, actually yes. I want you to bring up statistics of most popular kinds of game characters gamers like."

"Game characters?"

Josh still walks backwards.

"Yes, find out which are the most popular and least popular. And also, I want you to find interesting backstory facts that seem cool and great. Thanks E.D.I."

E.D.I. spins around and brings up several screens around her looking up what Josh wants to find. Josh continues onto the light in front of him and walks towards it. As Josh gets closer and closer to the light, his body starts to break up and gets zapped to the other end of the tunnel. Outside the power cord to the hard drive, a blue flight flies right at Game Central Station. Inside Game Central Station, the plug Josh used to connect his hard drive opens up. Various game characters walk by and wonder what game just got plugged in. Suddenly Josh appears and gets uploaded and built back to his usual self. Everyone recognizes Josh as he pats himself down.

"Am I all here?', looks around, 'Yep. It worked. Thank God', sees video game characters looking at him, waves, 'Hi."

Josh walks down the steps and passes everyone. Some greet Josh and he returns it.

"Hey, hi. How ya'll doing? It's been a while, I know."

Josh continues to walk around and passes _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,._

"Maybe everyone is in there."

Josh heads inside in _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,._

_Fix-It Felix, Jr.,..._

Josh flies and lands in _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,._ He looks around and doesn't see anyone insight. Not even the Nicelanders. Josh looks around confused.

"Where is everyone?"

Josh then starts to glitch around appearing and disappearing in different sections of the place.

"Did everyone take a day off or something? Ahhhh!"

Josh glitches at the exit and flies through the tunnel. Outside the cord, the same blue light shows and Josh reappears in Game Central Station. As he arrives he looks at the various game entrances to the different games. He spots _Hero's Duty _and glitches towards that.

"Maybe there out killing bugs." Josh says flying towards the entrance

Josh flies through the cord and gets to _Hero's Duty._

_Hero's Duty…_

Josh lands in the crashed down ship and passes up the train. He walks past the shooting range and outside the crashed down ship. The same usual atmosphere lingers around the same _Hero's Duty_ game.

"Same old sky…same old future.', Josh puts his hands around his lips, 'HEY! HELLO!?"

The words echo through the game. Josh gets more frustrated and flies up.

"Only one last place where they'll all be.', flies away, 'I hope."

Josh flies out of _Hero's Duty _and straight to _Sugar Rush._

_Sugar Rush…_

Josh lands in _Sugar Rush _and looks around. He twirls around his staff getting a bit anxious.

"Oh yoo-hoo…my so called 'friends'."

Josh walks ahead and sees the finish line in the distance. No one is around. It's like a deserted ship with no one on board. Josh just looks lost and confused.

"What is going on?" Josh says throwing his hands up

Josh sighs hard and walks to the finish slowly. He hears nothing but his footsteps. Josh steps over the finish line and kneels down at it. He touches the checkered white and red boxes and just feels the codes and the programs written in the ground.

"Had a lot of fond memories here. Especially the first time I came into here."

Josh closes his eyes and remembers his 'sticky' situation the first time he arrived in _Sugar Rush._ He almost got ran over by two oncoming karts and almost killed him. What an adventure that was for him. Josh shakes his head and stands back up.

"Now I just wonder where everyone is at."

As Josh is about to give up, commotion is heard. He turns around and in the distance. All his friends walk out behind the bleachers. Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and even Vanellope. Josh laughs under his breath finally seeing his friends. Josh almost yells but stops. He quickly thinks of something to do and smiles.

"Oh this will be great."

Josh glitches. The four continue on as Vanellope glitches ahead.

"I'm telling you this will work! It's gotta!"

"Easy kid. One mile at a time." Ralph says

"If I drive fast enough I can glitch between objects. It's worked before."

"Now Vanellope, when you say it 'worked' before, does that count the time Ralph came over and wrecked the wall that your kart was stuck in?" Felix asks

Vanellope looks the other way.

"All problems can be fixed, especially a glitch. I'm working on it. So now it will work."

Vanellope glitches ahead.

"I think I've worked out the kinks. So let me try right now to prove it."

In the distance, Josh peeks around a corner and sees everyone. He looks down the track and points his staff in the same direction. Calhoun looks up and down the track. Something funny is heading right at them.

"Hold it everyone.', everyone looks at Calhoun, 'Was it that?"

Everyone looks in the direction Calhoun is looking and Vanellope turns around. They see something moving, really fast coming right at them. It's moving so fast that it trails a dust cloud right behind it. Vanellope squints looking closer.

"What is that?"

Loud revving is heard and it appears to be a car.

"Look out!" Ralph yells

The four dive out of the way as Josh's chocolate Charger passes them. Josh flies up and looks at his car drive further into the distance. The four get up and see the car spin around and look right back at them.

"Whose kart is that?" Calhoun asks grabbing her pistol

Josh makes the car roar its engine. The four see that car is ready to drive at them again. Josh then makes the car spin its back wheels out of the control. It spins around the dirt in the back creating a large dust cloud. The four get ready but suddenly they can't move. Josh points his staff at his car and makes it speed forward. Josh's car speeds ahead right at the four. They try to move but they can't.

"I can't move!" Vanellope yells

"I can't hop! I'm hopless!" Felix screams

The four watch as the car gets closer and closer to them. Josh flies down as the four brace for impact, but Josh lands in front of them and points his staff at his car which stops it dead in its tracks. The dust follows forward and pushes against all five of them. The four cough as they push the dust out of their faces. Josh spins around and sits on the hood of his car. Vanellope walks head.

"Hey! Who's driving like a maniac!? Huh!?"

Vanellope pushes more of the dust out of her way as slowly the dust settles…everyone finally seeing Josh. Josh just sits there with a smile on his face.

"I drive like a maniac? What's wrong with a little ghost driving, I only made it go faster...and right at ya."

The four look closer seeing who there actually seeing. Vanellope looks closer.

"Josh?"

Josh looks back pretending there's someone else behind him. He looks back at everyone.

"In the flesh?"

"Josh!"

Josh nods.

"That's me."

"Ha, ha!"

Vanellope glitches and tackles Josh. He falls backwards landing hard on the hood of his car and Vanellope jumps up and down on his stomach.

"You're here! You're here, you're here, you're here!"

Josh can't take the jumping up and down on his stomach anymore.

"Yeah, I…I won't be for long if my insides pop out!"

"Oh, sorry…"

Vanellope glitches back in front of everyone. Josh takes a deep breath and leans back up. He looks back at his car.

"You know what they say about ghost driving, when there's no one behind the wheel, the car is just going to go out of control."

"You could have hurt someone." Calhoun states

Josh sighs.

"Calhoun. Nice to see you too. How's was your day? Killed any Cy-Bugs?"

Calhoun rolls her eyes. Josh hops off his car and walks to Felix and Ralph.

"Ralph, Felix. Nice to see you two."

"Welcome back brother." Felix says

Felix hops and the two pound fists as Josh lends out his hand and Felix hits it. Felix lands back on the ground. Josh backs up and looks up at Ralph.

"Hey-o there big guy! Top shelf!" Josh yells

"Top shelf!"

Josh flies up and pounds both of Ralph's gigantic fists. He flies back down and lands on his feet.

"So, how have you all been?" Josh asks crossing his arms

"Oh well you know me, driving here. Winning there. The usual." Vanellope says spinning around in circles

Josh shakes his head.

"I should've guessed."

"Me and Ralph have been working hard. Fixing what he's wrecking." Felix explains

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Same thing different day I suppose."

Josh looks at Calhoun and then the other three look at her as well. Calhoun notices and steps back.

"What?"

Josh throws his arms down.

"Tell me what you've been doing lately Calhoun, I want to know."

"Well, you of all gamers know that I kill Cy-Bugs for a living', Josh nods and looks away, 'What else would I have been doing?"

Josh looks a little annoyed.

"Just making conversation Calhoun, no need to get your boots tied up in a twist."

"Josh, where you going now?" Vanellope asks

Josh opens his door to his car and hops in.

"Game Central Station. I could use a round at _Tapper's._ Anyone care to join?"

Vanellope glitches and reappears in the passenger seat. Ralph and Felix look at each other and Josh stands up over the windshield.

"It's on me guys."

Ralph and Felix's faces change and the two climb aboard. Felix hops his way in the back and Ralph grabs hold of the trunk and sits down on it. Josh looks back and sees he's got three out of the four. He looks back up ahead at Calhoun who's watching seriously.

"Come on…for old time's sake Calhoun."

Calhoun sighs and rolls her eyes. She walks alongside Josh's car and Josh feels her get in behind him. Josh smiles and sits back.

"Hold on now."

Josh hits a switch and the car jumps up in the air. The tires rotate and the sides of the car spread out turning it into a flying vehicle. Everyone holds on and Josh floors it. He heads straight to the entrance of the game and straight towards _Tapper's._

_Tapper's…_

A small party is happening upon Josh's return. He takes in the spotlight talking and waving to everyone. The Nicelanders of _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,, _the other kart racers of _Sugar Rush_ and some of the soldiers in _Hero's Duty_. Everyone is having a good time. Josh walks past Calhoun's soldiers.

"Hey, any slacking off in _Hero's Duty_ and you'll hear the wrath of Calhoun, remember that boys."

They 'cheers' to Josh for that remark knowing exactly what he meant by that. Josh continues on and walks around more in the party. Vanellope spots Josh and waves.

"Josh! Josh! Over here!"

Josh looks and sees that the four are together. He nods and walks over towards them.

"What's up?"

"How long do you plan on staying this time?', Josh's look drops as the other three look at Vanellope then look at Josh for an answer, 'A while right?"

Josh clears his throat.

"Yeah, definitely. I'll be here for a while. Promise."

"Sweet!" Vanellope yells

Ralph and Felix nod but Calhoun looks off to the side. Josh notices and tilts his head.

"What's wrong Calhoun? You look like you didn't kill enough Cy-Bugs today."

"I've killed plenty of them today. It's just odd seeing another bug here after a long time."

Ralph, Felix and Vanellope look at each other and turn their heads at Josh. Josh slowly blinks and looks down. He starts to nod and grows a funny look on his face.

"You got something you want to say Calhoun?"

Calhoun shrugs.

"How about, 'I'll be back soon'. Ring any bells?"

Vanellope gulps and looks back up at Josh. Josh bites his lip and looks around.

"Sorry, can't remember that phrase." Josh says taking a sip of his glass

Calhoun nods.

"How can you? It's only been…how long has it been Josh since you were last here?"

Josh gulps really hard. He sniffs and doesn't look at the four.

"Month and nine days…"

"I may not be from your world Josh but that seems to be long time for just being you'll be back 'soon'."

Josh shrugs.

"Well what can I say Calhoun? I've been quite busy. Not enough hours in the day and with my other life I'm trying to live, it's quite difficult to balance coming here and doing EVERYTHING else all at once."

"Doing what exactly?" Calhoun asks with a look on her face

Josh waves his head around.

"Oh you know nothing important. Nothing that I'm trying so hard to do to please others. But apparently it seems like I have to drop everything and come here every single night. Driving thirty miles out of my way, spend a few hours playing GOD!', everyone looks at Josh shouting, 'Everything I do here I can't do in the real world, and now, now I have a short blond haired program giving me crap about how I don't come here enough to say hello to everyone. So you know what Calhoun, let me give you a little piece of what humans do. What _I_ do every single day, I LIE!', Calhoun flinches, 'I lie to everyone! Every single day a person asks me how I'm so good at designing video games. I get it done before the time its due, and with their personal experience, what takes them months, takes me hours. Which is impossible to them, but what I discovered, what _I _DISCOVERED will sound crazy to anyone! Who asks me about it. But no, no that's not the issue here. The issue here is me not coming here enough. So I'll tell you what Calhoun. I'll seriously drop everything. I'll drop school, I'll drop my personal life. I'll drop everything so I can come here and 'play' with all you characters. But now Calhoun, I have to go. Something nothing ANY of you have ever done in your program lives, unlike all of you, I need to SLEEP. Yes. SLEEP. None of which any of you have done before." Josh says walking out

Vanellope jumps off her seat.

"Josh!"

Josh spins around.

"Sorry Vanellope, I can't talk now, but will have fun tomorrow. I PROMISE. Hear that Calhoun? I said I promise. And this time I'll remember. See you in a few. Bye!"

Josh spins around his staff and twirls it around his fingers. He walks to the cord and disappears. The party is quiet. Calhoun brushes her hair back and Vanellope spins around looking hard at Calhoun.

"What'd you do that for?"

Calhoun closes her eyes.

"He overreacted. Just a bit."

"That's not even close to being called 'overreacted' Calhoun." Ralph says

"When it's Josh the whole room can shake." Calhoun explains

"Not funny Calhoun." Vanellope says running out of _Tapper's_

Ralph sees Vanellope running away.

"Kid, wait!"

Ralph goes after Vanellope. Felix sees too.

"Ralph!"

Felix chases after Ralph, or hops. Calhoun sees and slowly gets up.

"Really?"

Calhoun casually walks out of _Tapper's _chasing after the three.

Game Central Station…

Josh flies out of _Tapper's_ and lands on the ground. He 'stomps' his way towards his hard drive, but as he walks, the Station shakes. Each step he takes various game characters' lose balance of their footing. Josh walks up to the entrance to his hard drive. He sighs really hard and slams his staff into the ground which sticks, and upon doing that, the whole Stations shakes. Josh blinks and looks back. He sees the 'damage' of what he done and gulps.

"Whoops', pulls out staff, 'Got to watch that."

Josh spins around his staff and walks through the entrance to his hard drive. Back at _Tapper's, _Vanellope runs outside of _Tapper's _and looks around for Josh. Out of the corner of her eyes, Vanellope spots Josh disappearing into the darkness of the power cord of his hard drive. She jumps and glitches her way towards the entrance. Ralph and Felix run out as well and see where Vanellope is going. They chase after her. As Ralph and Felix run ahead, Calhoun makes it out and sees where everyone is going.

"Oh come on…" Calhoun says walking fast there way

Vanellope glitches and reappears in front of Josh's hard drive entrance. She looks down the tunnel and sees that it's different than the standard tunnels of what they look like to enter a game. There's not even a train to transport anyone to. Vanellope looks up at the name of the game but there isn't a name of the game, it just says in bold lettering **Hard Drive – Litwak**.

"Huh?"

Ralph and Felix catch up to Vanellope. There out of breath.

"Kid, don't…don't glitch again." Ralph says breathing heavily

"Wait a second Vanellope." Felix says fixing his hat

Vanellope looks back and forth at the entrance to Josh's hard drive and the two.

"Josh is in there. I've never heard of this game before."

Ralph and Felix look up. They see **Hard Drive – Litwak** flashing above them.

"Me neither." Felix says

"Josh went inside?" Ralph asks

"I saw him enter. But there's no train."

Ralph and Felix look and see the odd scene of the entrance.

"That is strange." Felix says

"I wonder what kind of game Josh is in."

"Well I'm willing to find out." Vanellope says walking ahead

As Vanellope walks ahead, Calhoun steps in front of her as she looks up.

"Hey Calhoun."

"You're not going in there."

"Huh?"

"No one is going inside there."

"Oh come on Calhoun. I want to check out this game."

"We don't even know what this game is."

"Well if we go in, will find out."

"Vanellope, just look at the entrance', Vanellope looks past Calhoun and sees the difference of the entrance, 'There's no train! How would anyone get back if they go in."

"If Josh can do it, I don't see how no one else can."

Calhoun kneels down in front of Vanellope.

"Vanellope…I know your happy to see Josh. But it's been a long time since we last seen him and I remember you checking every night for him."

Vanellope shrugs.

"I wasn't the only one."

Calhoun rolls her eyes as she knows Ralph and Felix were doing the same thing.

"I want to see what Josh went in to." Vanellope states

Calhoun sighs.

"I'm sorry Vanellope. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Vanellope shrugs.

"Then close your eyes."

Vanellope glitches and reappears behind Calhoun. Calhoun spins around and sees Vanellope running into the darkness.

"Vanellope!" Calhoun yells

"Kid!" Ralph screams

Vanellope disappears into the darkness. They watch Vanellope disappear and slowly enter the darkness as well.

Hard Drive…

Josh reappears as his body gets rebuilt from the ground up. He looks somewhat annoyed, pissed to be exact. Josh walks ahead as E.D.I. appears. She looks at her board in front of her.

"Scans indicated you are under a high level of stress."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"I'm way beyond 'stress' here E.D.I."

"Anxiety is also another form of stress."

"I'm not under stress E.D.I., I'm just pissed, that's all." Josh says walking around

"My understandings of the word 'pissed' dictates you are angry."

"Yes E.D.I. I'm angry. I thought my coming back would be a great surprise to everyone. Well, not everyone.', E.D.I. just listens, sighs, 'And also, I lied."

"You lied?"

"I said I didn't remember what I said. I yelled that out to everyone. I do remember what I said and…I lied about it. But hey, I'm used to lying to everyone around me."

"My scans are also showing you're nervous."

Josh acts a little paranoid.

"I'm, I'm not nervous."

"According to my scans, you are."

Josh sighs a bit.

"I can't get anything past you can I E.D.I.?"

E.D.I. shrugs.

"You designed me to notice and compute all problems before hand in which you don't notice', Josh nods, 'Just like you wanted."

Josh kicks up his staff and spins around his body.

"Where would I be without you E.D.I.?"

"That answer Josh is…"

Josh puts his staff up.

"I know. I know. Don't tell me. I know."

E.D.I. reframes from answering the question. Josh scratches his head.

"Okay, gather the current in the cord, I'm heading out."

Josh walks ahead. E.D.I. watches.

"May I insist before you 'head out' that I may show you the requests you asked me to look up."

Josh turns around remembering what he asked of E.D.I. before he left. He nods and walks back to E.D.I.

"I almost forgot, show me what you have."

The two start walking into the darkness. E.D.I. shows what she found on her boards as Josh just gazes at them. Back at the exit of the hard drive, Vanellope suddenly appears getting rebuilt from the ground up. She falls down and slowly pushes herself up.

"Whoa…that…felt different." Vanellope says pushing herself up

Vanellope looks around and sees nothing but darkness all around.

"What kind of game is this?"

Vanellope continues to look around. But then as she walks forward, she looks back and sees Ralph, Felix and Calhoun appearing as well. They get rebuilt from the bottom up and hit the floor as they fall down. Vanellope flinches as the three push themselves up. Ralph on the other hand rolls on his backside.

"Oh…oh, oh, oh, oh…what was that? That felt…different…"

"Jimamy, Jamamy…', Felix takes his hat off and wipes his head, 'That felt strange."

Calhoun bends her back to get the feeling.

"I told you not to go through. Josh only knows what just happened to us."

"Well that's going to be a little hard to do Calhoun." Vanellope says

Calhoun walks over with her eyes still shut.

"Why's that?"

"Because there's nothing here."

Calhoun opens her eyes and sees nothing but darkness.

"What in the name of…Cy-Bug?" Calhoun asks looking around

Felix puts his hat back on and looks around as well. Ralph jumps up and looks around too, seeing absolutely nothing.

"What kind of game is this?" Felix asks looking up

"This can't be a game. There's nothing around." Ralph says looking

"Well Josh has to be here somewhere, he came right through here." Vanellope says taking a step forward

As Vanellope takes a step forward, suddenly, the entire room of darkness changes. The four jump seeing the place change and finally it digitalizes up from the ground up and turning into a forest.

"Huh?" Vanellope asks

The four look around seeing that there in a total new place.

"What is this?" Ralph asks

"Everyone stay close." Calhoun says taking a step forward

As Calhoun takes a step forward. The scenery changes again. It shape shifts into a whole new place. The four find themselves on a beach, and from a distance, a small deserted island. The four look around shocked and confused.

"O….kay…what…just happened?" Calhoun asks looking around

"Will someone explain to me what's going on!?" Ralph yells taking a step forward

Calhoun looks back and watches Ralph take a step forward.

"No! Don't move!" Calhoun orders

Ralph looks at Calhoun.

"Huh?"

But it's too late, Ralph takes a step and the whole place changes again. The scenery changes and it turns into a desert. It's night time. Nothing is around, except a full moon. The four look around and Calhoun turns around.

"No one, move a step. Something strange is happening around here."

The four freeze. They try not to move but Felix is in a bit of a state, his foot is hanging in the air and is having trouble keeping it up. He strains and everyone hears.

"Felix." Calhoun says

"I'm falling."

"FELIX." Calhoun says harder

"I'm slipping." Felix says slowly falling

"FELIX!" Calhoun yells

Felix falls down and slams his foot on the ground. The scenery changes but it changes right back at the hard drive's main location. Total darkness. The four sigh in relief knowing that they are back, hopefully.

"Okay. I'm done with this place." Calhoun says

"Oh come on Calhoun. It's not like we got lost or anything." Vanellope says

"You call jumping around to different locations on the right track? Please. Anyone else with me, I'm leaving."

Vanellope sighs. Suddenly footsteps are heard. The four hear and turn. They see Josh walking towards them talking to E.D.I.

"Okay I get it E.D.I. most players like the 'hero' type obviously. I understand that', the four watch as Josh talks to E.D.I., 'But I don't want them to assume that he or she is automatically a 'hero'. It will be too obvious to them. I need a character that demands more, you know?"

"I can try looking deeper but unless you have a specific area, that will narrow down the search." E.D.I. explains

Josh nods.

"Right, okay, start searching', Josh looks out and sees everyone, keeps on walking with E.D.I., 'Hey guys. So E.D.I. start searching for…', Josh stops walking and so does E.D.I., the four wait for Josh's reaction to them being there and he jumps around, 'Guys! How did, you came, when did, how did?" Josh asks fumbling around with words

"I followed you." Vanellope says

Josh nods.

"Of course you did.', realizes, 'Wait. Hang on a second."

Josh walks over to them and checks them out. He walks around them in circles several times to make sure that every bit and piece is there.

"Huh…okay…it seems like that your all here. Hopefully." Josh explains walking away

"What are you talking about?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks back.

"Whenever I upload myself or anything to my hard drive it has to be reconstructed from the ground up. Some things can go through but some other things can't. And if they can't, they end up being…well, half reconstructed."

"Are you serious?" Calhoun asks backing up

Josh shrugs.

"Well I don't know Calhoun; you four are the first video game characters to ever be uploaded into my hard drive."

"Hard drive?" Vanellope asks

Josh rubs his head.

"And here it goes…let me guess…you thought this was a game now right?"

Josh waits for a reply by the four, but Ralph, Felix and Calhoun all point at Vanellope. He nods.

"I thought so. Well guys', Josh claps his hands, 'This isn't a game. It's a hard drive."

"What's a hard drive?" Felix asks

"It's a storage space with an infinite amount of memory. I bought the biggest one I can afford, this right here is the top memory anyone can buy. But little did the creators know that you can 'break' the barriers beyond the space that it can hold and extend it far beyond its capacity. Ha, ha…they have no idea what they didn't find out." Josh explains walking around

Everyone looks around.

"What were those places that kept popping up?" Calhoun asks

Josh stops walking and looks at Calhoun.

"Places?"

Calhoun gets annoyed.

"We all just went on a ride around to these different locations. Care to explain?"

Josh thinks for a second and realizes it.

"Oh. Those are just my level designs. What'd you guys think?"

The four look at each other not knowing what to say. Josh sees.

"I'll take your silence as a good thing. Those levels only took a few hours to create. But those were just one of many. I have over a thousand of them."

"3,023 to be exact."

Josh looks back and nods.

"Thank you E.D.I."

"Eddy?" Ralph asks

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Not 'Eddy'. E.D.I. Ralph. E-D-I. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my Enhanced Digital Interface.', Josh shrugs, 'E.D.I., this is Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun."

"I remember you telling me about them', E.D.I. looks at them all and bows, 'It is a pleasure to meet all of you, Josh has told me a lot about you four."

The four look at each other still wondering who or what E.D.I. even is.

"What's the matter guys?" Josh asks

They look back at Josh and Felix steps forward.

"It's, um, nice to meet you Miss E.D.I.', E.D.I. looks down at Felix who approaches her slowly, 'Are you from a video game like us?"

E.D.I. turns at Josh for a response. He nods and E.D.I. looks back at them all.

"No. I am not."

"Then what?" Felix asks

Josh sighs.

"Guys, she's my subconscious.' everyone looks at Josh, he walks around and sighs, 'After the first few nights when I got out of here and went home. I couldn't help but think maybe I can push this whole entering and leaving interspace thing. So I went to work. I brought the ripped power cord home with me. Analyzed it.', rubs back of head, 'It…hurt the first few times. Instead of 'leaving' and waking up inside a computer I was intentionally shocking myself nearly to death. Oh boy those first few days were painful.', Josh takes a deep breath, 'But then I discovered I needed a 'way point' to settle in before I actually make it to a system. Like Game Central Station for example. My hard drive is my waypoint. I can come and go and wake up outside back in my body in a flash. Literally." Josh explains

Calhoun crosses her arms.

"That doesn't explain E.D.I."

Josh looks at E.D.I.

"Well…I needed someone to help guide me through the system. Who can I trust more than my own subconscious? She has all the information I can't remember and can look anything up as I ask. It's pretty sweet actually."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Josh shakes his head.

"E.D.I…"

"So is this what you've been doing?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks down at Vanellope and kneels down.

"I've been designing Vanellope. Time spent here moves faster than time outside the real world. By the time I left, I found it was the following morning. And my body needed the rest. I need to sleep Vanellope. None of which any of you can do."

"It's okay. Knowing what you were doing now, I'm kind of excited to see more."

Josh smiles and stands up.

"Good, because this is only the first lap. Anyone else?"

Ralph and Felix look at each other and back at Josh.

"Count me in." Ralph says

"Me too brother." Felix says walking forward

Calhoun crosses her arms and watches the four group together. Josh looks back and sees Calhoun by herself.

"You're welcome to join if you like.', Josh shrugs, 'For old times' sake?"

The four wait for Calhoun to respond. A few seconds pass by and Calhoun finally decides to come with. Josh nods and walks ahead of everyone.

"Hold on everyone. Got to start the download."

Josh spins his staff around and holds it tight in front of him. He takes a deep breath and suddenly slams it in the ground in front of him hard. The whole room shakes and suddenly the room changes into various places that Josh has designed during his time at home and the many things he's created.

Later…

The four laugh amongst each other of the various 'trips' they went to. Josh, Vanellope, Ralph and Felix laugh, the only two who don't are Calhoun and E.D.I. Calhoun rolls her eyes seeing them act like children.

"That last place Josh was awesome." Ralph says

Josh shrugs.

"That last place I thought of was out of the blue. I just couldn't resist the idea of converting the ideal place of an endless apartment complex. It's very organized. And it looks all the same right?"

Ralph laughs.

"That place was all right, but I really liked the one with the paved streets and city lights."

Josh nods.

"I thought you would like that one Vanellope. Those kinds of places are best well suited for street racers."

Vanellope blinks to the idea.

"Street racers?', Josh nods, 'What's a 'street racer'?"

Josh stands up and smiles.

"What you like to do Vanellope but it's not in Candyland."

"Huh." Vanellope says to what Josh said

Josh walks to E.D.I.

"E.D.I. what time is it in the real world?"

"It is 4:34 A.M."

Josh shakes his head.

"Four 'o' clock?! Ahh! It feels like it's still nine when my Dad closed the shop.', Josh sighs really hard, 'I'm sorry guys but I have to break up the sightseeing. I need to get back home and catch A LOT of Z's."

"Sure, that's no problem." Felix says

Josh nods.

"You have got to show us the rest." Ralph pleads

"No problem Ralph. I got nothing to do for a while. I now have free time on my hands."

Calhoun takes notice of that.

"Will you come back tomorrow Josh?" Vanellope asks

Everyone looks at Vanellope. Josh looks down and sees the look on Vanellope's face. Josh smiles and nods.

"Of course. Of course I will. I promise."

Vanellope smiles happily.

"Sweet! This will be awesome! See ya later Josh!"

Vanellope tries to glitch away but fumbles around.

"Huh?"

Josh takes notice.

"Can't glitch here.', Vanellope looks back, 'Out there in Game Central Station, your programming stays the same. But here, in MY world, I fix everything to stay the way I want it to be. So anything you think you can do, can't happen."

"Now you tell me that."

Josh shrugs.

"Should have asked."

Vanellope walks to the exit. Ralph and Felix catch up to her and slowly they get deconstructed and sent back to Game Central Station. Josh looks left and sees Calhoun still there.

"Excuse me Calhoun, I have to go now and get back to my so called 'life' I live."

Josh starts to walk away and Calhoun just watches.

"Don't lie about it now."

Josh stops walking. E.D.I. just watches the situation. Josh slowly turns and looks serious at Calhoun.

"Lie to everyone out there…but don't lie to everyone in here. We're not like people you know." Calhoun says walking away

Josh nods and smirks.

"Exactly. You're not human."

Calhoun stops walking. She shakes her head and continues on. Josh watches her get broken up and sent back. Josh sighs and walks to E.D.I.

"Disconnect. NOW."

E.D.I. looks at her boards.

"Disconnecting."

Josh slowly fades from his 'body' and disappears out of his hard drive. He reawakens in the Arcade and rubs his head. He cleans up the scene and puts everything back the way it was without leaving a trace anything has changed. After the cleanup, Josh gets on his bike and heads home.

The end of Chapter 2…

Preview of Chapter 3…

Josh's welcome was good at some points but Calhoun she made him remember the bad that has happened without his presence. Josh can't be in two places at once and according to his study, time moves faster when he's in the Arcade or when he's in his hard drive. He's trying his best and now that he's got free time on his hands, he can come to the Arcade. Especially now with a new video game, it'll be a worth to check out. But it seems like Calhoun and Felix are having problems of their very own. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 3 – Fix-It, Fix-It Josh


	3. Chapter 3 - Fix-It, Fix-It Josh

Chapter 3 – Fix-It, Fix-It Josh

In the Parking Garage…

The garage door of the Parking Garage opens up and Josh rides in on his bike. Josh pulls back on the brakes and skids a short distance. He sighs hard and takes off his helmet. Josh stretches his arms out and gets off his bike. As he gets off his bike, Josh throws a cover over his bike and walks to the freight elevator up to his Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

The elevator makes it up to the Apartment level and Josh throws it up. It falls back down and Josh walks further into his darken Apartment. Josh takes out his hard drive and connects it to the wall. It turns on and Josh walks to the Kitchen.

"E.D.I., lights."

The lights of the Apartment turn on all over the place. Josh makes it to the Kitchen area and opens the fridge. He takes out an old style Root Beer glass. Josh pops off the top and chugs the Root Beer in his hand. He sighs softly and wipes his mouth.

"E.D.I…give me some jazz."

Over by the record player, a record drops down on the player and the stick moves over. Josh walks over to the couch and sits down. The music starts playing and Josh relaxes a bit hearing the play of jazz through his Apartment. Josh sighs and throws his legs up on the table in front of hm. He takes another sip of his Root Beer and throws his head back.

Later…

Some time passes by and Josh walks into his Bedroom. Jazz keeps playing and Josh takes off his leather coat and tosses it to the side. Josh walks to his bed and crashes down on top of it. He sniffs hard as he turns his head around the other way.

"Would you like a time for me to wake you up at Josh?"

Josh takes a moment to think. He turns his head the other way again.

"Uhhh…ten. Wake me up at ten."

"Very well."

The record player keeps on playing as Josh slowly falls asleep and finally passing out.

Following morning…

Josh is still sound asleep. The record player has ended streaming and skipping at the end of the player over and over again. Over on the side of Josh's bed, a digital alarm clocks stays on 9:59 for a few seconds finally changing into 10:00.

"Josh, it is now ten A.M. Your wake up is being requested as you asked."

"Mmmmm…" Josh says moaning rolling over

"You did tell me to wake you up at this time Josh."

Josh sighs hard and grabs his pillow. He slams it on his head.

"Another hour E.D.I."

"You told me to wake you up at ten. It is now ten."

Josh sighs really hard and throws the pillow to the side.

"Yeah…I did.', rubs face, 'And these are the moments I regret ever inventing you E.D.I." Josh says sitting straight up

Josh gets up and gets ready to start his day.

Parking Garage…

Josh throws up the elevator door and walks to his bike. He throws off the cover and drives out of his home. And straight to the Arcade.

Litwak's Arcade…

Josh arrives and enters. As Josh walks in, the Arcade doesn't seem to be full of kids as usual. Instead of the 100% ratio of kids in the Arcade, it seems more to be roughly at 75% of kids are in there. Josh shakes his head.

"Little less busy than usual."

As Josh walks around, he walks to the spot where his Father got the new game, as he goes over there; Josh finds it still boxed up. Mr. Litwak hasn't even touched it or to even show it. Josh shakes his head once again.

"Why even get a game and not even open it yet?"

"Come on guys! This is awesome!" Tommy yells

Josh turns his head in the direction of the commotion. He sees a group of kids together playing a little competition of _Sugar Rush._ Josh walks over and watches.

"None of you can beat me! Come on, watch this!" Tommy yells

Tommy's playing as Vanellope, he glitches his way in front of the other racer and crosses the finish line first. Tommy gets so excited he jumps out of his seat and dances.

"Ha, ha! Tommy five, rest of you, ZERO!"

Tommy shows off a bit as his friends discuss their battle plans against Tommy. Tommy waits for his next victim. Josh stares hard at Tommy and walks on over.

"So…', everyone looks at Josh, including Tommy, 'What do we got here?"

"Who are you?" Tommy asks

Josh looks down at Tommy.

_Look at this kid…he can't be no bigger than…nine years old…reminds me so much of me in my 'youthful' days._

"I'm Josh Litwak', Tommy's mouth drops, 'Who, ARE YOU?"

Tommy just looks completely stunned.

"Y-Your Josh Litwak?"

Josh shrugs.

"Says so on my driver's license."

"It's, It's an honor to meet the Gamer!" Tommy says grabbing Josh's hand and shaking it

Josh just goes along with it meeting a 'fan'.

"Uhh, no problem.', Josh yanks his hand back, 'So what do we got going on here?" Josh says walking alongside the seat to _Sugar Rush_

"Well, me and my friends here were just having some fun racing each other."

"Uh-huh." Josh says

"He beat us every time." Tommy's friend says

Josh looks at Tommy's five friends.

"He beat all of you?" Josh asks pointing at each one

"Yep! I haven't lost yet." Tommy explains

Josh nods.

"I see.', Josh walks around Tommy, 'What's your name kid?"

"Tommy."

"Tommy huh?', Tommy nods, 'Let me ask you something Tommy…how would you feel like going up against the legendary Gamer?', Tommy flinches and Josh looks down at him, 'It seems that winning streak…might come to an end."

"Uh, uh…can I…take a rein check?"

"Oh come on, you beat all your friends, they were just a warm up, let's have it out little Gamer."

"Uh, maybe next time. For sure, I-I-I got to warm up more."

Josh shrugs.

"Okay. Just remember, it's not about who you face, it's about whether or not you can beat my high score."

"I can never get up that high to your high score. I don't have all that money."

Josh shrugs.

"Neither did I, but I found a way."

Tommy sighs.

"Okay. Let's go guys."

Tommy and his friends leave. Josh watches but stops Tommy.

"Tommy, one other thing.', Tommy turns around as his friends go on ahead, 'It's cool that you can win all the time. But don't show off about it, everyone's got it. Okay?"

Tommy thinks for a second and nods. Josh sees and Tommy runs on ahead to catch up to his friends. Josh shakes his head.

"Kids…"

Josh looks around and sees the place not as busy as usual, so he takes advantage and decides to head on into Game Central Station. Inside the utility closet, Josh runs a cord all the way there and locks the door. He tapes the wire to the back of the door and slowly leans against it. Josh takes a deep breath and places his head on the door. His body jumps and his head slumps down. A blue light moves through the wire and down into Josh's hard drive. Josh travels through his hard drive and to Game Central Station.

_Hero's Duty…_

Felix hops off the train of _Hero's Duty _and walks on ahead. He hums to himself and looks around for Calhoun.

Game Central Station…

Josh is standing on the hood of his car using his staff as a golf club. He gets ready to swing and does a few practice hits. Ralph and Vanellope wait, they look somewhat bored as Josh just practices.

"Will you swing already?!" Ralph yells

Josh smiles and gets ready.

"Patience Ralph."

"You've been swinging nothing for the past five minutes. I could be wrecking the apartment three times over by the time you swing."

"The more focus you have on a single object. The more concentration strained on it. You will in fact discover…all that waiting. Pays off."

Ralph yawns.

"Yeah right."

Josh blinks and hits the ball. Ralph and Vanellope watch as the ball flies through the air at the far end of the Station. The ball bounces around as it rolls into Josh's hard drive portal. Josh spins around his staff and jumps off his hood.

"You were saying Ralph?"

Ralph grunts.

"Your turn big boy."

Ralph takes his 'homemade' club which is just a giant stick. He stands alongside Josh's car and drops his ball. Ralph gets ready to hit as Josh stands next to Vanellope. The two watch and Ralph finally hits the ball.

"Ooh yeah!"

Ralph laughs as Josh shakes his head.

"Ralph?"

The 'ball' flies across the Station and Ralph looks at Josh.

"What?"

"You didn't exactly hit the ball."

Ralph looks lost.

"Huh? Yeah I did, look! It's down there!" Ralph yells pointing

Josh points where the ball is still lying.

"No. It's DOWN there where you left it."

Ralph blinks and looks down. He sees he hit a chunk of the floor instead of the ball. Ralph just shakes his head and shrugs.

"Does that count for a swing?"

"If you want that to play as your ball that's fine. But good luck trying to get it in the hole."

Ralph walks away as Vanellope goes up as well. She uses her Princess wand as her club. Josh and Ralph just watch as Vanellope decides to hit the ball on the hood of Josh's car.

"Okay, watch this you two."

Josh and Ralph nod at the exact same time. Vanellope throws her club up high but looks past Ralph and Josh.

"Hey! What's that?!"

Ralph and Josh turn around and Vanellope glitches. She takes the ball with her and sets it down on the far side of the Station. Josh and Ralph continue to look in the direction Vanellope was pointing. As Josh and Ralph look back, Vanellope reappears and the two look at her.

"I didn't see anything." Ralph says

"Oh. Then I guess I was wrong."

Josh rubs his head.

"Did you hit the ball?"

"Yep. Look down there." Vanellope says pointing

Josh and Ralph look and see Vanellope's ball all the way down the Station.

"Wow!" Ralph yells

Josh nods.

"Pretty good."

"I call that the 'Far Stroke'."

Josh laughs.

"Nice name. But I really think you should call it the 'Glitch Stroke' instead."

Josh looks back at Vanellope. Vanellope gulps and shrugs. Josh shakes his head.

"All right. That's one for me, one for Ralph, and two for Vanellope."

"Hey, that was one hit!"

"You glitched and picked up the ball, that's two."

"That's unfair!"

"How about three?"

"Two's fair."

Josh sighs.

"All right. On to the next hole."

Josh, Ralph and Vanellope walk to Josh's car and climb in. Then all of a sudden, Felix zips by and screams at the top of his lungs.

"HELP~!"

Josh slams on the brakes moving an inch. Felix hops on the hood of his car and glues himself to the windshield.

"Josh! Josh! You have to help me!"

Josh leans forward.

"Felix?"

Felix hops high in the air and lands on the trunk.

"Josh! You have to hide me!"

Everyone gets out of the car and all stare at Felix.

"Felix, what's the matter?" Josh asks

"I don't have time to explain, you have to hide me!"

"From who?"

"FIX-IT~!" Calhoun screams

Felix hops in the air hearing his name being called like that. Josh turns around looking calm.

"Calhoun?"

"Please Josh! Just hide me!"

"FIX-IT!"

Josh turns and looks at Felix. He seems to be in trouble for some reason and walks to him.

"All right, alright. Get off my trunk."

Calhoun makes her way towards the group. Josh opens his trunk and Felix looks.

"Josh?"

"Hop in."

"Are you serious?"

"You going to get in or face the wrath of Calhoun?"

"FIX-IT!"

"Ah!"

Felix hops in the trunk and Josh slowly closes it. Josh walks casually around Ralph and leans against his car as Calhoun approaches.

"Where is he?" Calhoun says with a terrifying look on her face

Josh clears his throat.

"Who are we now talking about Calhoun?"

"I'm in no mood for one of your games Josh. Where is Felix?"

"Oh! Felix…that's who you're looking for. I haven't seen him. Ralph have you seen Felix?"

"No."

"Vanellope?"

"Nope."

"Sorry Calhoun, none of us have seen Felix."

Calhoun breathes heavily hiding behind her fallen hair. Josh slowly approaches her.

"Why are you looking for Felix anyway? You look like you're on a warpath or something."

"I need to talk to him."

"Talk or strangle him? You look like you're going to do both."

Calhoun walks away growling.

"If you see Felix, tell him I want a word with him."

Calhoun walks away as Josh just waves.

"Bye Calhoun. I'll make sure I'll tell Felix that RIGHT away." Josh says with a smile on his face

Calhoun walks ahead heading to _Fix-It Felix, Jr.,._ Josh sees Calhoun gone and walks to the trunk. Josh opens it up.

"Okay Felix, she's gone."

Felix slowly sticks his head out and sees Calhoun not around. He shakes nervously and hops out.

"Oh boy…that was startling."

"What'd you do Felix?" Ralph asks

"Not me, Tamora."

Josh shakes his head.

"Oh please, you had to do something to set her off. Her eyes were out of her head."

"I swear, I didn't do anything."

"Felix', Josh walks to Felix and he watches him approach closer, 'You can either tell me', lifts up staff, 'Or I find out myself."

Felix sighs and takes his hat off.

"Okay…', everyone gets ready to listen in, Felix sighs, 'I told Tamora…No."

Josh blinks. He looks around and back at Felix.

"Wait, what?"

"I said no to her."

Josh shakes his head.

"That's it?', Felix nods, 'You said no to Calhoun?"

"Yes. And I've never seen her so upset before."

"Usually this is considered an improvement. But in your case it's a war."

"What am I going to do?" Felix asks looking up

Josh shakes his head once more.

"Okay, tell us, what happened."

"Well, I was on my way to _Hero's Duty_ to see Tamora and I…I…"

Josh sighs.

"Okay, no offense Felix, but I need to speed things up."

"Huh?"

Josh points his staff at Felix and a 'connection' of codes appear from the bottom of Josh's staff to Felix's head. Josh's eyes light up showing Felix's memories of the encounter.

Ten minutes earlier, _Hero's Duty…_

Josh looks around and pats himself down. He sees he's in _Hero's Duty _and looks around.

"Okay…where's Felix?"

Josh hears humming and turns around. Felix walks down the hallway of the crashed down ship looking for Calhoun. Josh shakes his head and follows. Felix continues to hum as he reaches the door to the level of the game. Felix hears Calhoun talking and hops his way. Josh sees.

"Slow down Felix."

Felix makes it to the door but suddenly…

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT LITTLE BUG!" Calhoun screams

Josh slides and so does Felix.

"Huh?" Felix asks

Josh blinks and walks on ahead of Felix who hides behind the door and Josh sees Calhoun talking to two of her soldiers in the distance. He looks back and sees Felix peeking.

"I'm sick and tired of that short round being all smart to me all the time."

Felix gasps and Josh looks back.

"Felix?"

"I'm tired of his face', Felix touches his face, 'I'm tired of how he talks', Felix touches his lips, 'I'm sick and tired of seeing him all the time!" Calhoun yells

Felix holds down his hat hard. Josh crosses his arms.

"Who, are you talking about Calhoun?"

"I swear the next time I see that little runt I'm going to ring his neck his up from his collar and see him turn purple!" Calhoun says walking away

Josh steps out of Calhoun's way and Felix sees her coming. Felix hops but he slips and Calhoun sees.

"Felix."

Felix flinches and jumps up.

"T-Tamora!"

Calhoun approaches Felix but he starts to back up.

"Felix, I, I need to talk to you."

Felix backs up and Calhoun notices.

"Felix?"

Felix backs up more and Calhoun follows.

"Felix, stop walking backwards."

But Felix keeps on backing up. Calhoun looks serious.

"Felix, stop backing up.', Felix keeps backing up, 'Felix!"

"No!"

Calhoun flinches and Josh just watches with his arms crossed.

"So that's how you said it Felix."

Calhoun tilts her head.

"What did you just say to me?"

"Uh, uh…I said 'no' Tamora. And I'll stand by what I said. And I will not be put through what you want to do to me."

Calhoun looks serious but tries to hold it in.

"Felix…you're going to listen to me."

"No I won't. I don't want any part of this matter."

"Felix." Calhoun says pointing her finger at Felix

Felix stops moving and so does Calhoun. Calhoun sees what Felix is about to do and suddenly, Felix zips out of there as Calhoun launches forward at him but Felix gets out of there before Calhoun can catch him. Calhoun gets up on her two feet and chases after Felix.

"FIX-IT!"

Josh blinks and watches as Calhoun chases Felix.

"Huh…I see…"

Game Central Station…

Josh blinks and lowers his staff. Felix rubs his head feeling the 'connection' disappear. Josh kneels down and looks at Felix.

"You really believe Calhoun is going to 'ring your neck' Felix?"

"I heard what she said."

"Are you sure she was talking about you?"

"Who else was she talking about? Everything she said sounded like me."

"Well the way she described you sounded more like Gene. He is very 'annoying' with his talks all the time."

"I know she wasn't talking about Gene. She told me she likes him."

Josh stands back up.

"Only you would believe that Felix."

"What am I going to do?" Felix asks

"Well, you got two option Felix', Felix looks up at Josh, 'Option one: you can spend the rest of your life running and hiding from your estranged wife.', Felix shakes his head, 'Or option two: you man up and face her like a true man."

"True man?"

Josh points at Ralph.

"Kind of like Ralph's figure and a bit stronger. Especially since you're manning up to Calhoun."

"These don't sound like good options."

"At least you'll be alive." Vanellope states

Felix sighs.

"I'm in trouble."

"Hey, hey, Felix. Listen.', Felix looks up at Josh, 'I'll fix this. Okay. Don't get your hammer in a knot."

Felix wipes his eye and fixes his hat.

"What are you going to do?"

Josh kick flips his staff up and catches it.

"Do what I do best."

Josh walks away but turns back around.

"Oh, in the meantime Felix, stay alive and keep away from your wife."

Josh walks away. Felix rubs his head feeling a 'headache' coming on. Ralph and Vanellope try to comfort Felix and his troubles.

_Fix-It Felix, Jr.,…_

Felix's Apartment…

Calhoun searches every corner of Felix's Apartment looking for him. Causing quite a stir from her tossing and turning the place upside down. Down the hallway Josh hears the commotion. As he turns the corner he almost trips over Gene.

"Whoa, Gene, excuse me I didn't see you there."

"Pardon me, but look down before you step."

Josh shrugs.

"Kind of hard when you're lower then my kneecap. I'll break my neck."

"Hmmm!"

Gene walks away 8-bitty. Josh rolls his eyes.

"Calhoun had to be talking about HIM."

Josh makes it to Felix's Apartment and leans against the doorframe. He just watches Calhoun throw the couch upside down and checks the closet.

"You really think he'd be hiding in the closet?"

Calhoun looks and sees Josh there. She goes back to work.

"I'm thorough."

Josh nods.

"I clearly SEE that.', Calhoun goes on, 'You know, if you were trying to leave no trace that you were here, you're doing a horrible job."

"When Felix sees that I'm looking for him, he'll come running to me."

"Instead of away from you?"

Calhoun stops for a second and goes on.

"What do you want to say to him anyway Calhoun? It seems very important."

"Something between me and him Josh. Nothing that concerns you."

"Well, it kinda does, when you're on a rampage searching for you short lost husband."

"Why are you here?"

Josh shrugs.

"Felix is my friend. And hearing certain rumors, I just want to see Felix play another game."

"I do to. That's why I want to just talk to him."

"How about 'ring his neck'?"

Calhoun stops. Josh blinks and Calhoun slowly turns around.

"What did you just say?"

Josh gets off the doorframe and leaves.

"Have fun taking your frustrations out on your husband's home."

Calhoun hops over the sofa and walks out into the hallway watching Josh disappear in the distance.

Hard Drive…

Josh sits on the floor and thinks about the course of action to fix all this. Felix is scared to approach Calhoun, and Josh can't take the chance for Calhoun to meet Felix face to face without having a battle. So he needs to get the two to meet on neutral ground? Josh sighs really hard.

"Ahhhh! This is tough!"

E.D.I. appears

"May I be of assistance?"

"Yes E.D.I. I am in need of some assistance.', E.D.I. listens in, 'I need to get Mr. and Mrs. Fix-It together but the problem is one's afraid of the other and one wants to supposedly kill the other. I honestly don't know what to do."

"When a marriage between husband and wife are at odds with each other, it is the most likely cause of action would be to bring the two together by their first meeting."

Josh blinks and leans forward.

"Their first meeting?"

"With a remembrance of an important event of their lives, all problems of the present seem nothing more than a thought."

Josh nods to the idea.

"Their first meeting. Huh…sounds like that it'll work. But where did they first meet each other?"

E.D.I. shrugs. Josh stands up ready to do something but Ralph walks in.

"I know that answer."

Josh turns around and both E.D.I. and Josh see Ralph.

"Huh?" Josh asks

Ralph looks down and back up. He walks to Josh.

"Back then when I went Turbo, Felix went out to search for me', Josh listens in as Ralph walks around him in circles, 'I got the Medal of Hero's and a Cy-Bug hatched and landed on my face. I fell into an escape pod and flew out of Hero's Duty."

"Yeah, I remember. But what about Calhoun and Felix?"

"Felix went to _Hero's Duty_ to find me. Upon arriving, he met Calhoun."

"Really…"

Ralph shakes his head.

"Their first meeting with each other was Calhoun shooting at him with all her soldiers."

Josh's face completely changes.

"Their first meeting was of her shooting at Felix?"

Ralph shrugs.

"He was jumpy and quick."

Josh smiles and shakes his head.

"Of course he was.', Josh sighs, 'All right. Now we got to get the love birds together so they can talk this out peacefully."

Ralph crosses his arms.

"Really?"

Josh shrugs.

"I have no idea. But it should work…I think."

Josh and Ralph leave the Hard Drive.

Game Central Station…

Josh and Ralph walk together.

"What's the plan?" Ralph asks

"Go find Vanellope. Will need back up."

"Okay."

"And also tell her to bring something sweet. Will need it."

"Got it."

Ralph walks away. Josh walk over to Felix who's hiding underneath a bench. He stops and just stares down at Felix looking underneath the bench.

"Felix.', Felix jumps, 'I can see you. Not exactly a good hiding place."

"It's worked well for me so far."

"Get out of under there."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"I'll even say please."

"I'm sorry. I can't Josh."

Josh sighs and points his staff at the bench. He picks it up and it flies across the room. Felix tries to run but Josh keeps his staff pointed at him.

"Relax; I'm not turning you in."

"Then let me go."

"I will. I have a better hiding spot for you."

"You do?', Josh nods, 'Where?! I'll take it!"

"_Hero's Duty._"

Felix hears that and shakes his head.

"Absolutely not! Tamora will be there!"

"No she won't. She's looking all over for you, the last place she'll look is her own game."

Felix thinks about the idea that way.

"Huh…never thought of it that way."

"So why don't you go to _Hero's Duty_ and hide out there. I'll stand guard and make sure she won't find you."

"Thanks Josh. You're a true friend."

Josh lets go of Felix and watches him zip off at her game. His smile slowly goes away.

"Now for Mrs. Fix-It."

Josh walks off and heads to _Tapper's._

_Tapper's…_

Calhoun continues to search for Felix inside _Tapper's._ Josh sees Calhoun looking for Felix and rolls his eyes. He approaches her slowly as Calhoun brushes her hair back.

"Mrs. Fix-It?"

Calhoun narrows her eyes really hard and turns around and sees Josh.

"Hi." Josh says waving

Calhoun turns back around and continues the search.

"I can see that you're busy but if you can take one second to look at me, I got to tell you something very important."

Calhoun scuffs.

"What makes you think I want to listen to your important thing Josh?"

Josh shrugs.

"Well, fine then. I was going to tell you where I saw Felix go to', Calhoun's eyes pop out of her head, 'But you don't want to listen so I'll just turn around and leave."

"Freeze!"

Josh looks back and sees Calhoun pointing her gun at him.

"Where is he?" Calhoun asks cocking her pistol

Josh points his staff and Calhoun sees.

"_Hero's Duty_.', Calhoun narrows her eyes showing she's not in the mood for any jokes, Josh shakes his head, 'It's the last place you'd look right?"

Calhoun diverts her eyes and thinks about the idea. She holsters her gun and runs out of _Tapper's._ Josh just watches.

"And here we go."

Josh casually walks out of _Tapper's _and heads to Game Central Station. Inside Game Central Station, Calhoun runs across the Station and straight to _Hero's Duty_. Josh watches and glitches his way towards Calhoun and her game. On the train, Calhoun boards and Josh just follows. Calhoun stands right behind the doors and awaits the arrival into her game. Josh appears behind Calhoun and points his staff at Calhoun.

"Calhoun.', Calhoun turns and Josh taps his staff on Calhoun's forehead and get gets knocked out like a light, 'For your own good Calhoun."

The train arrives and the plan gets set with Josh dragging Calhoun into her game.

_Hero's Duty…_

A little while later…

Both Felix and Calhoun are out. There sitting across from each other on the platform right outside the crashed down ship. Their first meeting place. They both slowly begin to wake up.

"Uhhh…" Felix moans

"My head…" Calhoun says

The two finally open their eyes and see each other.

"Tamora!" Felix says trying to hop away

"Felix!" Calhoun yells trying to move

But as the two try and get out of their seats, they can't. They seem to be restraint to the chairs there sitting on.

"What? What is going on!?" Calhoun yells

Josh suddenly flies and lands by. The two see.

"Ah! How nice of you two to finally wake up. Welcome, to the first, and hopefully last, marriage quarrel.', Felix and Calhoun look at each other, 'Since one of you are trying to 'talk' and 'stay away' from the other. The only answer to this problem is to get you two on neutral ground."

"You call this neutral? Where in my game!"

Josh points at Calhoun.

"You are exactly right Calhoun. But why here? Why this place?"

Calhoun and Felix look at each other. Josh snaps his fingers.

"Guys. This is where you two first met. See?"

Calhoun and Felix look around. They remember this is the place where they met for the first time. Josh spins around his staff and pretends to play it like a guitar.

"Ah, it was a happy meeting. Calhoun didn't know who it was so her first reaction was to open fire on the subject. And that subject happen to be dear old Felix here.', Josh starts walking around the two, 'And after the ten second of numerous gun fire, Calhoun, you stuck your gun in Felix's helpless face complimenting him how 'quick' he was to avoid from being shot.', Calhoun rolls her eyes, Felix gulps, 'But that didn't stop Felix here from introducing himself. Instead of looking at the barrel of the gun shoved in his face, he saw the beau', clears throat, 'he saw the beau…', Josh coughs, Calhoun and Felix look at Josh, Josh rubs his throat, 'Sorry. It's just…really hard to say.', clears throat hard, 'Felix saw the beauty in Calhoun's HD face.', Felix narrows his eyes, Josh sees, 'High Definition? HD?', Felix nods in understanding, 'But flattery wasn't going to stir up this woman now, huh Felix?"

Felix sighs.

"Does this all have a point Josh?" Calhoun asks

Josh nods.

"Yes it does.', Josh claps, 'Lady and gentlemen! Bring us the order!"

Felix and Calhoun look back and see Ralph and Vanellope bringing some deserts from _Sugar Rush _to the table. They each set down each desert and Josh claps again.

"Thank you. Now it's time for the happy couple to get it on."

"Get what on?" Felix asks

Josh smiles and leans forward between the two.

"You two are going to sit here and talk about this. I don't care if it takes all day and all night. This will be resolved in a peaceful', Josh says looking at Calhoun, 'And not running away', looks at Felix, 'Resolution."

"Why can't I move?" Calhoun asks

Josh smiles as he points that out.

"Oh you noticed that huh?', Josh looks at both of them, 'I put a little 'restraint' on you two so none of you can do anything to each other. That way, your force to look at each other, and not run or kill the other. Nice huh?', Calhoun looks angry and Felix looks worried, Josh claps his hands, 'Okay, you two get going now. This dispute will be resolved one way or another." Josh explains walking away

Josh walks into the crashed down ship and the doors shut quickly behind him. Calhoun and Felix look at each other and stare into each other's eyes. Felix looks down at all the deserts and nods happily.

"Well, doesn't he think of everything now, huh Tamora?"

Calhoun just stares hard at Felix and he gulps.

"So, what shall we talk abo…"

"Fix-It." Calhoun says strict

"Yes Ma'am?!" Felix says sitting straight up

"Why did you run away from me?"

Felix gulps.

"Could you perhaps be more specific, that happened more than once."

Calhoun looks serious.

"The very FIRST time."

"Oh! That time. Well, you see, I kinda…"

"I was only going to ask you a question."

"No you weren't, I heard what you were going to do."

"Excuse me?"

Felix sighs.

"I heard everything you said Tamora. And I'm surprised."

"What are you talking about Felix?"

"I heard everything you said. You hate my height, you hate my voice. You seem to hate everything there is about me Tamora."

Calhoun looks shocked.

"Felix, what are you talking abo…"

"And after everything we've been through, everything you've been through, what have I done to make you feel like this?"

Calhoun shakes her head.

"Felix."

"I mean, I can't change how I look…"

"Felix." Calhoun says stricter

"Maybe my voice is annoying but perhaps I can change it…"

"FELIX!"

Felix jumps to hearing Calhoun say his name hard.

"I wasn't, talking about you."

Felix narrows his eyes.

"Huh?"

"How did you even hear me anyway?"

Felix shrugs.

"I came here to see you, and I overheard you talking."

Calhoun nods.

"Ah, I see. You thought I was talking about you. And when you saw me, you ran off."

"What else was I supposed to do?"

"Do you even want to know who I was talking about?"

Felix blinks and waits for the answer.

"I was talking about Gene."

Felix looks shocked.

"Gene?', Calhoun nods, 'Huh…Josh thought the same thing."

Calhoun shakes her head.

"The one thing he and I can agree on. But Felix, you shouldn't run away from me."

"I was in fear of my life."

"Oh Felix. If I wanted to ring your neck, it would have happened a long time ago."

Felix clears his throat.

"That's not exactly reassuring."

"But it is for me Felix."

Felix narrows his eyes wondering what Calhoun means by that. Suddenly Calhoun tries to get up out of her seat but the force of the restraints on her keeps her down. Felix sees what Calhoun is trying to do.

"Tamora?"

Calhoun strains as she tries to stand up.

"Now, for anyone else here, when I say I'm going to ring their neck, I'm going to do exactly as I say."

Felix looks confused.

"Uhh…okay…"

"But when I say I'm going to ring your neck', Calhoun strains as she tries to stand up, 'I'm going to do…something a bit different."

Felix narrows his eyes…and gulps.

"Different?"

Calhoun finally stands up but the force pushes her down. Felix jumps but can't move. Calhoun crawls her way at Felix and Felix sees. He starts tipping the chair back and forth and finally falls on his side. Calhoun sees Felix is trying to crawl away from her. But Calhoun smirks and throws her arm at his foot.

"Come back here little man!"

Felix gasps as Calhoun grabs hold of his foot. She laughs and drags him back as Felix digs his fingers into the floor and roughs up the surface with his nails as he's dragged back. Calhoun takes a deep breath seeing all her energy spent just trying to grab Felix. Felix tries to crawl away but Calhoun spins him around.

"There! Now I got you."

"Tam-Tam-Tamora! Calm down for a second please!"

"You yell in my face…you run away from me while I was looking for you all over the Arcade…and now your begging me to 'calm down'?', Felix shakes his head nervously and Calhoun just smirks, 'I'll show you my way of 'calming down'."

"Tam-Tamora!"

Calhoun strains and throws herself down on Felix.

Back inside the Crashed Down Ship…

Josh, Ralph and Vanellope play with a set of cards Josh made up.

"Got any threes?" Josh asks

"Nope. Sink fish." Ralph says

Josh sighs.

"Go fish' Ralph. It's 'GO fish'."

"Oh. Go fish."

Josh sighs once again and picks up a card. He looks at Vanellope.

"Your turn."

"Uhh…got any eights?"

Josh rolls his eyes and throws down three of them.

"Here, take them."

Vanellope smiles happily.

"Yes!"

"The game isn't over yet sweet cheeks."

Vanellope looks at the cards in each player's hand.

"Well judging how many low cards you have in your hand you'll need your magic cane to beat me."

Josh sighs.

"Staff. It's a staff. Not a 'cane'."

Ralph blinks and turns around. He looks at the sealed doors and looks back at the two.

"How do you think there doing in there?"

Josh just focuses on his cards

"Is it quiet?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"You hear any screams?"

"No."

"Then Felix is still alive."

"I'm worried though."

"Don't worry Ralph. If Calhoun kills Felix I'll get my copy to replace him."

Ralph looks funny at Josh.

"That's not helpful Josh."

Josh shrugs.

"It's an idea though."

As the three continue to play, Josh organizes his cards and suddenly hears laughing. Josh blinks and looks at Ralph.

"Why are you laughing?"

Ralph looks at Josh.

"I'm not laughing."

Josh looks at Vanellope.

"Vanellope, are you laughing?"

"No. Not at the moment."

"Well someone is, who's laughing?"

Now the laughing gets louder. The three look at each other and slowly turn at the sealed doors. The laughing continues and Josh looks at Ralph and Vanellope. Josh gets up and the two follow him to the sealed door. The laughing goes on; Josh looks back and narrows his eyes.

"Easy now."

Josh points his staff at the sealed door and opens it up, just a bit. The three peek through the crack and hear the laughing is coming from Felix. Vanellope jumps trying to get a better look.

"I don't see them."

"There not sitting down anymore." Ralph says

Josh gets a better angle and pauses. He slowly smiles and backs.

"And our work here is done."

"Huh? What's happening?" Vanellope asks getting a better look

Vanellope tries to get a better look but Josh stops her.

"Ah, ah, ah…', Vanellope looks up at Josh, 'This is PG rated. Nothing a little squirt like you needs to see."

"Come on, what are they doing?!"

Josh, Ralph and Vanellope start to walk away.

"Come on Josh, what are they doing?" Vanellope asks looking up at Josh

Josh and Ralph look at each other and Josh looks back down at Vanellope.

"The birds and bees Vanellope. The birds and bees."

"Huh?"

Josh walks away seeing another job well done.

Arcade…

Josh snaps out of it and rubs his eyes. He sighs hard seeing he's back in the closet. Josh rubs his eyes one more time and walks out in the Arcade. As Josh walks around, he sees in the corner of the Arcade the new game still boxed up and still not opened. Josh sighs as he sees it still wrapped up. He looks to the side and sees his father handing out quarters to the kids.

"Dad. Dad!"

Mr. Litwak turns and sees his son.

"Josh. I didn't know you were here."

Josh shrugs.

"I was. In spirit', makes face, 'sort of."

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah, that game that came in."

"What about it?"

"How come you haven't opened it yet?"

"I'm getting around to it Josh."

Mr. Litwak walks away and Josh follows.

"Well what's taking you so long? Unbox it and open it up."

"What's the rush Josh?"

"Well I don't see why you'd buy a new game and keep it boxed up for two days."

Mr. Litwak sighs.

"I didn't buy it Josh. It…it was sent to me."

Josh crosses his arms and thinks about what his Father just said.

"Wait. You didn't buy it?"

Mr. Litwak doesn't look.

"No."

"That doesn't make any sense, why would someone send you a free arcade game?"

"I don't know Josh, but the Arcade could use a free game at the moment."

Josh stops walking and lowers his arms.

"Why's that?"

Mr. Litwak sighs and turns at his son.

"Josh, come with me for a second."

Josh blinks and follows his Father outside the Arcade.

Outside Arcade…

Josh stands before his Father as he rubs his eyes.

"What Dad?"

"Between me and you Josh. The Arcade isn't doing so good."

Josh blinks and gulps from hearing that.

"Wh-What?"

Mr. Litwak sighs and rubs his eyes.

"Kids aren't coming in here like they used to."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, you know it Josh. Why would you spend a quarter on a thirty year old machine when you got Xbox and Playstation 2 around everywhere?"

Josh shrugs.

"It's Playstation 3 actually. Playstation 2 died a decade ago."

"Whatever. Kids nowadays don't care about Arcades no more. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came up to me and bought out the Arcade."

Josh shakes his head.

"Dad…you can't be serious."

"Josh. This place won't last forever."

Josh sighs.

"What if I work here? For free, that should help."

"Unless you want to work free the rest of your life Josh, that won't help this place."

Josh looks up at the neon sign at the entrance of the parking lot. Litwak's Arcade.

"I didn't tell you're Mother so; I'll break the news to her slowly."

Josh rubs his face and spins around. Mr. Litwak sees.

"I'm sorry Josh."

"There's…There's gotta be something I can do."

"I'm sorry Josh. You can't', Josh turns around, 'Not even you can fix this."

Mr. Litwak pats his son on the shoulder and heads back inside the Arcade. Josh looks around and wonders what do even do now…

End of chapter 3…

Preview of chapter 4…

With the thought of the Arcade closing running through Josh's mind, Josh finds Tommy and his friends playing the game the Arcade got recently. Josh ponders about it finding out the game is called _Cyrus the Virus._ Josh has never heard of it before, there's not even a publisher of the game. But seeing how the game plays, Josh is worried how he is in Game Central Station. So he unplugs it before entering the Station. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 4 – Cyrus the Virus


	4. Chapter 4 - Cyrus the Virus

(Attention Readers: I'm not complaining or anything, but I'm noticing that I'm not getting much reviews of the chapters that I've uploaded. I know it's only the start but seeing how much everyone wanted a sequel, I'm surprised that there's not that many reviews up. I'd love to read more reviews. It's what keeps me going. Besides finishing the story, I want to hear what people liked, love, etc., etc. but I'm just saying, if I'm writing these chapters and not getting much reviews I'm just going to quit while I'm ahead, because it's not worth writing these chapters without reading the reviews of them. So please, write a review, it could be one word, I really care about these things. So please, write a review. Thank you. Enjoy the chapter)

Chapter 4 – Cyrus the Virus

Parking Garage…

Josh rides into the Garage and does his original routine. He walks to the elevator and takes it up to his Apartment.

Apartment…

Josh walks into his Apartment and sets his things down. He connects E.D.I. up to the main source of the Apartment and she gets connected.

"E.D.I., I need you to look up something for me."

"What would you like me to do?"

"I want you to look up the financials of Litwak's Arcade for the past few months.', E.D.I. gets to it showing different business reports over the last few months on the TV screen, 'I need to see if my Dad is telling the truth."

"What did your Father lie about?"

"Well he didn't exactly 'lie' E.D.I., he told me something that got me thinking and I just want to check his story out. What do you have on Litwak's Arcade?"

"According to financial records, Litwak's Arcade isn't making enough money to pay its monthly bills."

Josh walks around in circles hearing what E.D.I. is talking about.

"How much?"

"According to last month's bill, Mr. Litwak, your Father didn't pay in full. He was off $457.56." E.D.I. explains

Josh covers his mouth.

"E.D.I. can you give me a gross estimate of this year's revenue of the Arcade."

"Calculating…', Josh waits for an answer, 'By the end of this year, Litwak's Arcade will exceed over $20,000."

Josh smiles.

"That's great."

"But bills will exceed that revenue Josh. The bills by the end of the year will be over $30,000 if your Father can't pay off the bills all at once."

Josh's mouth drops hearing what is happening to the Arcade, he slowly sits down and covers his head.

"Well this is just great…if my Dad can't pay the bills…Litwak's is officially going to shut down."

"According to research, kids play more video games inside their homes then going out to play old games at an arcade Josh."

Josh lifts his head up and looks funny at E.D.I, well, at the screen.

"You sound like my Dad E.D.I."

"I apologize Josh. But if the math is right, by the end of the year, your Father's Arcade will shut down and close for business."

Josh sits back in on his sofa and sighs really hard.

"Oh this is just great…"

That night, Josh just goes to sleep and waits for the following day.

Following Day…

Litwak's Arcade…

Josh walks in and looks around the place as if it's empty. He's picturing the place shut down even though the place is full of kids. Same as before, the place is not jam packed of kids, instead of 100% of kids in the Arcade, 75% are in there. Josh gulps and walks around. He looks at the various game consoles and see them playing as they normally do. Josh walks around some more and over hears Tommy yelling on the other side of the Arcade.

"Come on, come on! I got this."

Josh nods and walks that way. As he passes game consoles, he sees the game finally unboxed. But it's a big game, with a huge flat screen, bigger then _Hero's Duty_ even, your basic average control console, joystick and a few buttons. Josh approaches closer and sees what the name of the game is called…

"_Cyrus the Virus_?"

Tommy looks back and sees Josh.

"Hey Josh! Check out the new game here!"

Josh watches Tommy play the game.He looks closer at the character in the game, its set in third person and Tommy controls the player. From what Josh is seeing, the setting seems to be set in the future. The world of tomorrow is gone. Decayed buildings, plant life growing everywhere, not a single human insight.

The character Tommy is playing seems to be shining for some reason. Josh looks closer and sees he's not shining, his body his shooting off electricity and Tommy aims his hands at strange, disfigured enemies. The lighting hits them and they burst up into pieces from the hits.

"Wow! This game is so awesome!" Tommy yells

"This game is a rip off." Josh states

Tommy looks up at Josh.

"Huh?"

"Tommy', Josh looks down at Tommy, 'Do you know of the game _Infamous_?"

Tommy nods.

"Yeah, I have Playstation 3."

"Well', Josh points at the screen, 'Doesn't this look a little like it. This character already exists."

"Yeah, but his name isn't the same as in _Infamous_', Josh just listens in, 'His name is Hero instead of Cole."

Josh shakes his head.

"His powers are exactly the same. I'm surprised Sucker Punch ain't suing."

"It's still a cool game."

Josh looks around.

"I haven't heard of it."

"Me neither, but it's addicting."

"Maybe for you, you haven't gotten whipped yet." Tommy's friend says

Josh looks back.

"Whipped?"

Tommy's friends show Josh these weird hand marks on the front side of their hands.

"What happened?"

"Every time we died the game whipped us from it." Tommy's friend explains

Josh examines the hands of the kids. It really shows, a line across the front side of their hands. It hit them pretty hard.

"I've NEVER heard of a game actually hitting its player as they lose in the game."

"It hasn't hit me yet." Tommy says

Josh looks at the dashboard of the game console. Where Tommy uses his left hand to move the character around, Tommy uses his right to hit the buttons. Josh looks more over and sees a small hole where the 'whip' comes out to hit the player.

"How much money have you spent?"

"All together, fifty eight bucks."

Josh blinks.

"How far have you gotten?"

"No so far, we haven't gotten to the first boss yet."

"First boss? The name of the game sounds like he's the boss."

"He's not. According to the beginning, Cyrus has henchman who act as little bosses you have to defeat before you move onto the final, which in this case is Cyrus."

Josh shakes his head.

"So how far have you gotten with fifty eight bucks?"

"Not far, the only thing we've been doing is shooting lighting at these guys."

Josh rolls his eyes and looks confused.

"You spent nearly sixty bucks on jumping, shooting and dancing around without even getting to the first boss battle?"

Tommy shrugs.

"Couldn't put it better then myself."

Josh stands by Tommy closer.

"That's a rip off."

"But it's fun."

"No Tommy it's not fun, you're blowing money off a cheap game that doesn't even get you to the main plot. You're basically shooting blanks."

"But look at this guy, being able to control electricity and shoot it out of your hand at countless enemies. I'd love to have that power."

Josh makes a face and thinks about that 'one' time he had electricity shooting out of his hands. He sort of smiles.

"Imagine that."

"But I think I'm getting really close to rescuing the princess."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What princess? From what I'm seeing I'd be surprised if there's anyone left. Besides these deformed enemies you're fighting."

"Well, the story has it she has the power to stop Cyrus. But it's only a myth."

Josh nods

"I see."

"You can get help from her or Cyrus's daughter."

"Daughter?" Josh asks looking down

"Yeah, she's fighting against him for the destruction of the world or something. I didn't pay close attention to the story, MAN! My thumb is getting tired."

"Take a break then." Josh says walking on the other side of Tommy

"I can't, I still have some health left and energy of Hero. Not giving up just let."

Josh watches as Tommy fights out his remaining time of the game. But Josh keeps his eye on the hole near Tommy's hand. If Tommy gets killed in the game, he'll get whipped. So Josh keeps an eye on that. Tommy keeps playing; his energy level from how much electricity he has left begins to dwindle. But his health bar is dropping. Do to getting hit a lot; the games screen gets harder to see. Showing that Hero is slowly dying. Josh gets ready. Tommy sees that he's dying really fast and finally, his character, Hero does.

"No!"

The screen pops of Cyrus himself and laughs. Tommy flinches and throws his head back but Josh grabs him and pulls him back as the whip shoots out and misses Tommy's hand by an inch. Tommy breathes heavily and rubs his hand where the mark would be at.

"Thanks Josh."

"No problem."

Josh looks closer at the screen and sees Cyrus is acting a bit funny then any game character he's met before. Cyrus laughs and Josh narrows his eyes. He starts banging his head against the screen almost cracking it. Tommy and his friends flinch and Josh just stares hard.

"See? Makes you want to beat him huh Josh?"

Josh smirks.

"Oh, I know another way of beating him without spending a quarter." Josh explains walking away

Josh walks away as Tommy and his friends watch.

"How?"

Josh follows the power cord to the surge bar and pulls it. Tommy and his friends watch the game go out and Josh just twirls around the plug.

"Just like this. Josh: 1. Cyrus: 0."

"Nice." Tommy says

Josh tosses the plug to the side. He walks to Tommy and bends over.

"You spent enough money today on a ripped off game.', Tommy nods, Josh smiles, 'Get out of here. Save your money for a different game."

"_Hero's Duty_?"

Josh nods with a smirk.

"Why not."

Tommy spins around and leaves with his friends. Josh watches and sees them disappear. He turns at _Cyrus the Virus _and narrows his eyes.

_That…was something different…_

Inside the closet, Josh hooks himself up. He slowly places his head on the exposed wire and zaps himself to his hard drive.

Hard Drive…

Josh fixes his collar and looks around. E.D.I. walks up behind him.

"Is there a specific inquiry you would like me to develop?"

Josh sighs really slowly.

"I'm going to the Station but I'll be back. I need to ask Ralph something but when I get back…I want to start developing…a character."

E.D.I. blinks and nods.

"Very well Josh."

Josh goes on ahead and heads to Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

As Josh arrives in Game Central Station, and as he arrives, he looks in the direction where _Cyrus the Virus _was plugged. Lots of video game characters are gathered around the entrance all looking at something. The Surge Bar keeps a field up to keep everyone back.

"Everyone stay back, everything is under control. The game has been unplugged. There is no 'virus' inside the Station. Please stay back." Surge Bar orders

The various video game characters get more worried and start causing a stir. Josh flies over them and lands behind the 'keep out' tape. Josh takes a look at the entrance of the game he unplugged and sees something…growing all over the walls.

"What the…hell?" Josh whispers

"Mr. Litwak, we have things under control here, please get back behind the line." Surge Bar explains

Josh looks at the infestation growing.

"What, what is this?"

"I don't know yet, I'm figuring it out. Please stand behind the line just like everyone else."

Josh looks back at the crowd and sees them getting worried about this whole thing for some reason.

"Why are they so upset?"

"Reports were coming in that something was 'infecting' the other games."

Josh flinches.

"Infecting?"

"It's probably just an error. Everything is under control Mr. Litwak."

Josh shakes his head and looks back at the infestation. The Surge Bar goes back to calming everyone down. Josh kneels down and gets a better look at the growth. He looks back to see if the Surge Bar is watching, he's too busy keeping everyone calm. Josh looks back at the growth and remembers from the game, the actual gameplay when Tommy was playing that he saw the same exact thing. But how can it be coming from the game, only characters can cross through, not the setting. Josh rubs his chin.

"This is strange…"

Josh looks at his staff and decides to use that to touch it, instead of his bare hand. He pushes a chunk off the wall and it falls down and lands on the ground. Josh looks at his staff and sees some of it is still on there. Josh looks around to see if anyone notices and hides it. He flies over the crowd of people and returns to his Hard Drive.

Hard Drive…

Josh appears in his Hard Drive and so does E.D.I.

"Shall we begin?"

"Not yet E.D.I. I need you to analyze something."

"What is it?"

Josh shows his staff to E.D.I. and directly shows her to the bottom of it.

"I need you to analyze this and tell me exactly what it is."

"Certainty." E.D.I. says grabbing staff

E.D.I. takes the staff and Josh just watches. He crosses his arms as E.D.I. scans the growth with her hand as screens pop up coming up with different results.

"Well?" Josh asks with a shrug

"Analyzing."

Josh sighs as E.D.I. continues to analyze the material. He yawns and spins around. Josh walks away looking around and E.D.I finally finds the results.

"I have found something', Josh spins around, 'It is an addictive growth of different programs." E.D.I. explains

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What?"

"It's a self-replicating virus', E.D.I. continues to explain as Josh examines the material from a distance, 'It feeds off anything it comes into contact with. It continues until the main source tells it to stop."

"Wait, what 'main source'."

"I am detecting a signal coming off this material, it's sending out wave lengths to its controller."

"So your telling me this material continues to spread, like a virus?', E.D.I. nods, Josh backs up, 'And your also telling me that its being controlled by something?"

"Precisely."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Something or 'someone'?"

E.D.I. takes a closer look at her scans and looks back at Josh.

"I'll need further studies, but it would be easier to find the other end of the control waves."

"The other end?"

"Have you removed any game from their power source?"

Josh shrugs.

"I unplugged a game. _Cyrus the Virus._"

"That may be where it's coming from. In order to confirm, you must plug it back in."

Josh rubs the back of his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea E.D.I."

"Why's that?"

"I watched the game as it was plugged in and being played by players. Something about that game doesn't feel right. Every time the players lost the game would 'whip' them across the hand. It looked like it hurt."

"Game design isn't usually played like that. A game causing harm to players."

"I know that E.D.I. I know."

Josh sighs and looks at the bottom part of his staff. He hands it to E.D.I. and she takes the rest off with her bare hands.

"Is it okay for you to be touching it?"

"I also have analyzed the replicating can be stopped from high voltages of electricity."

"High voltages of electricity?"

"Yes."

Josh watches as E.D.I. holds the growth in her hand and shocks it. He blinks and sees that they just turn into ash. Josh nods.

"Good work E.D.I. I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you." E.D.I. says rubbing her hand

Josh turns around and heads back to Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

As Josh returns he spots Ralph with Vanellope on his shoulder.

"Hey kids." Josh says with a smile

"Hey Josh!" Vanellope says waving

"Kid?" Ralph asks crossing his arms

Josh waves his hand.

"Sorry Ralph, seeing you two together, I can't help but compare the similarities between you two."

"What similarities?" Ralph asks

Josh shrugs.

"Oh, you two look so 'cute' together."

"Cute?!" Ralph shouts

Josh puts his hands up and flies back.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there Ralph. I'm only playing."

"Then let's take a round in _Street Fighter_. Just you, and me."

Josh walks towards Ralph with his hands up showing he's going to be peaceful.

"Easy Ralph. I don't want to fight. I just need to ask you something."

Ralph crosses his arms.

"What?"

Josh diverts his eyes and looks at Vanellope.

"Vanellope, I need to speak to Ralph alone for a minute."

Vanellope narrows her eyes.

"Why?"

"Grown up stuff." Josh explains

"Ah come on."

"Please Vanellope? This is very important."

Vanellope sighs and glitches down. She reappears on the floor and throws her hands in her hoodie.

"Fine."

Josh and Ralph watch Vanellope walk way. Josh looks up at Ralph as he looks down at Josh.

"What is it Josh?"

"Ralph. Tell me and honestly, when you were first plugged in, I mean, the very first time. Did you like your job?"

Ralph tilts his head.

"Why do you want to know?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Because I need to know. It's important."

Ralph thinks for a moment.

"The job was easy. And I'll honestly say I liked it."

"So, you didn't mind being a bad guy."

"Well that's what I was created as. So yeah."

"But then you hated it. Being a bad guy."

Ralph shrugs.

"Well, thirty years of doing the same thing it finally started to get to me."

Josh sighs and rubs his eyes.

"I see. So you were created to be bad guy, but you can't now change who you are, right?"

"Uhh…yeah.', Josh starts walking away, 'Why do you ask?"

Josh stops and looks back. He sighs and looks around the Station.

"I need to make sure I create the right person', Ralph just blinks wondering what Josh is talking about, 'I need to make sure…he or she doesn't hate being who they are."

Josh turns back around and heads to his hard drive. Behind him, Vanellope watches.

Hard Drive…

Josh is sitting down on the ground staring at a screen indicating how he wants to start his character build. MALE or FEMALE is floating in front of him. Next to him, E.D.I. stands by, waiting patiently for Josh to pick. But it looks like it's taken a while and E.D.I., just waits patiently.

"According to studies, players prefer male characters over female characters."

Josh sighs.

"Okay…male it is then."

"Very well then."

Josh points his staff over MALE and just holds it there. E.D.I. watches as Josh does nothing. He sighs and puts the staff done.

"I can't do it." Josh says putting his hands on his face

E.D.I. just stands there patiently. Vanellope appears and sneaks up behind Josh without him knowing.

"SURPRISE!" Vanellope screams

Josh throws his hands up and his staff gets thrown up as well. Josh looks up and so does Vanellope. E.D.I watches the staff fly up in the air and falls back down to the three. Josh simply catches it and spins around on his butt.

"Vanellope.', Vanellope waves with a funny look on her face and Josh holds his anger in smiling really odd at her, 'How nice of you to drop by. Can I help you?"

"What were you talking about with Ralph?"

Josh scratches the back of his head and looks serious at Vanellope.

"You like yourself Vanellope?"

Vanellope looks confused.

"Huh?"

"If you weren't a glitch, do you still like who you are?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

Josh sighs.

"Because I'm stuck harder than a rock in a hard place."

Vanellope looks lost.

"What?"

"You know why Ralph went Turbo right?"

"Yeah, he wanted to be a good guy."

"Because he was tired of being a bad guy."

"I know that, why are you bringing that story up?"

Josh looks down at the ground.

"Because Vanellope I need to create a whole new character from scratch and I'm worried whoever I create they won't like how they are. Just like Ralph."

Vanellope blinks to hearing Josh is going to create a video game character from scratch.

"You're going to create a new character?"

Josh nods.

"Yes."

"Well that's awesome! What's their name going to be? What is he or she going to look like?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know Vanellope. I don't think I can do it."

Vanellope narrows her eyes.

"Why not?"

"What if I create someone and they don't like being who they are?', Vanellope just listens in, 'I don't think I can be responsible for creating someone from scratch and making them into someone I want. I'm not God. I can't just..', Josh pauses for a moment and puts his hand on his head, 'I can't be responsible for a characters life that I just created to amuse others."

Vanellope stands there just looking at Josh. Josh sniffs and takes his hand off his head. Vanellope walks over and sits down next to Josh.

"You're scared of your character becoming like Ralph?"

Josh closes his eyes.

"I can't be responsible for creating a life…program."

"Person right?"

Josh looks over.

"You're a program Vanellope. Made up of millions of codes. You live but, you're not exactly human."

"Human or not…I'm alive still."

Josh nods.

"That you are Vanellope."

"What makes you think your character will hate being who they are?"

Josh shrugs.

"A living character who can actually think for themselves…I just can't help but think about Ralph's scenario."

"Just don't tell them about 'Going Turbo'."

Josh sort of smiles.

"Right. No 'Going Turbo'."

"So just try it, give it a try."

"I'm trying Vanellope. I'm really trying. But as I look at the space around me, where am I going to put him? Or her? I can't just leave them in here. There's nothing here."

"What about your levels?"

Josh shakes his head.

"It wouldn't be the same for them. Living here in infinite space. I can't have that. It's not for me."

"So what are you going to do?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know. Honestly Vanellope…I'm scared."

"You?" Vanellope asks shockingly

"Yes Vanellope. I'm scared. I just can't do it. I just can't."

Josh spreads out his legs and stands up. Vanellope watches as Josh looks at E.D.I.

"Forget it E.D.I., erase the programming. I'm not doing it today."

"Very well Josh."

E.D.I. waves her hand and the screen with MALE or FEMALE on it disappears. Josh sighs and looks down at Vanellope. He lends down his hand.

"Up shorty."

Vanellope narrows her eyes and tries to glitch. But Josh shakes his head.

"You can't do it here squirt."

"I remember!" Vanellope says standing up

"You okay?"

"Squirt?"

"Too harsh?"

"Yes."

"Sorry. Sweet cheeks?"

Vanellope thinks for a second.

"Not bad. Could do a bit better."

Josh shakes his head.

"I'm slipping Vanellope. I hope I can get back on my A-game."

Vanellope watches as Josh walks around. She stands up and puts her hands in her hoody.

"Josh?"

Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"Hmm?"

"What's your world like?', Josh tilts his head, 'Is it anything like here?"

Josh thinks for a moment and looks around. Vanellope waits for an answer and Josh looks back down at Vanellope.

"It's not like here Vanellope. That's for sure."

"What do you mean?"

"My world. My reality. My reality/world…it's nothing compared to what life is like here behind the screen Vanellope. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Josh looks back down at Vanellope and sees she's serious.

"When I'm here Vanellope. I feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.', Josh just gazes around looking at the vast emptiness of his hard drive, Vanellope just watches, 'Knowing what I know, no one else would have thought that any of this could possible exist. The limitless power I can control and do anything I want…it feels great to know that I can do all of this.', Vanellope smiles, Josh lowers his head, 'But that's until I wake up.', Vanellope smile goes away, 'When I wake up, I feel…cold.', Josh feels himself, 'I don't feel that here. I just don't. I feel…energized. Out there Vanellope. Out there, I can't do anything like I can do in here. In here, everyone knows me. They know what I can do. Out there, no one knows me except the players that play the games here. In my world Vanellope…people are cruel…mean…and horrible to each other. It's not like a game when you have a hero that shines in the lights of others and he or she protects them from the bad guys. Instead you have the law. And no one can beat that."

Josh sighs finally letting that all out. Vanellope blinks seeing Josh just looking straight down at the floor.

"There's got to be something good."

Josh lifts his head back up and looks at Vanellope. He thinks for a second diverting his eyes. Josh sort of smiles and points his staff at a certain direction. Vanellope points and suddenly a bright light shines in the distance. It shines really bright and Vanellope covers her eyes. The light suddenly disappears and Vanellope opens her eyes. She finds herself in the parking lot of Litwak's Arcade. Vanellope looks ahead and sees that it's the grand opening of the Arcade on the first day.

"What the…?"

Josh walks up behind Vanellope.

"Very special day."

Vanellope looks up and sees Josh.

"What is this? I've never seen this level before."

Josh smiles walking ahead. Vanellope catches up.

"This isn't a level Vanellope…this is a memory of mine."

"Memory?" Vanellope asks looking up

"Since my mind is connected, I can upload deep hidden memories lost in my empty head up here', Josh knocks on his head like a door, 'Amazing things how you can just stumble around in your own mind huh?"

Vanellope looks around at all the people and kids around. She carefully tries not to bump into anyone but as someone walks towards her, the person just walks right through her as if she wasn't there in the first place.

"What the?!"

"It's a memory Vanellope', Vanellope looks up at Josh as he grabs hold of her, 'Think of it as an instant replay and were simply 'viewing' it personally."

"Oh. I still don't get it."

Josh shakes his head and pulls Vanellope along.

"Come on."

Vanellope follows Josh through the memory. As Josh guides her through the memory, Vanellope looks around at all the kids waiting to enter Litwak's Arcade.

"I've never seen the outside of the Arcade before."

Josh looks back.

"There's a first time for anything."

The two make it up to the front of the crowd. Josh sees his younger looking Dad and Mother ready to open the Arcade for the first time. Vanellope sees as well.

"What's going on?"

"The grand opening of the Arcade."

Vanellope looks up and back at the front doors. Mr. Litwak picks up a pair of scissors and cuts the ribbon.

"Welcome to Litwak Arcade! Play to your heart's content!" Mr. Litwak shouts

Josh smiles as his Father and Mother move to the side to let all the kids in. Josh and Vanellope watch as everyone enters the Arcade. He looks to the side and sees his Mother holding a baby in her hands. Which is actually Josh.

"Wow…that was awesome." Vanellope says

Josh sort of smiles.

"Yeah, sure was. This is possible the best moments of my life."

"But where are you?"

Josh points.

"There."

Vanellope looks at what Josh is pointing at and sees Mrs. Litwak holding baby Josh in her hands.

"Ha, ha! Look! Your baby self."

Josh nods.

"Yep."

Vanellope looks around.

"Where's Jason?"

Josh gulps.

"He's not born yet."

Vanellope looks serious.

"Oh…"  
Josh shakes his head.

"Yeah."

Josh waves his staff and the memory fades away. Vanellope looks around and sees that there back.

"Can you do that?', Josh looks back at Vanellope, 'Anytime you want?"

Josh shrugs.

"When I'm here. I can. Out there. I can't do anything like I can here."

"Which do you like better?"

Josh thinks about that question for a second. He crosses his arms and sighs.

"I really don't know…', Vanellope puts her hands in her hoody, 'I'm not from here so I technically belong to the real world. But I spend more time in my hard drive then the real world so it's a fifty/fifty lifestyle."

"You still didn't answer my question."

Josh makes a face at Vanellope and spins around.

"That answer is yet to be resolved."

Vanellope sighs.

"You're no fun."

"Give me a break I have a lot on my mind."

Vanellope shakes her head and reaches in her hoody. She pulls out the necklace Josh gave her years ago. Josh looks back and sees Vanellope just holding it out. Holding it tightly. Josh sighs slowly and looks back at Vanellope.

"I like it here Vanellope', Vanellope lifts her head up, 'As much as I admit it. Being here beats reality anytime. Anywhere. If I could…I would live here instead. Matter of fact…"

Josh waves his staff around and suddenly a replica of his apartment shows up around him and Vanellope. Vanellope looks around and sees she's in a new place.

"Now where are we?"

"My home."

"This is where you live?"

"Yep."

"Huh…"

Vanellope looks around. Suddenly E.D.I. comes walking by and Josh sees.

"Ah E.D.I. Welcome back home."

E.D.I. looks around.

"This is not 'home'. This is a mere design."

Josh sighs.

"Thank you E.D.I. for pointing out the obvious."

E.D.I. shrugs with a straight look on her face. Josh looks back at Vanellope as she looks around his Apartment.

"It's not much, but I call it home. Litwak Plaza."

"Uh-huh."

Josh sees Vanellope just curious about looking around his apartment. Not caring what he says. Josh shakes his head with a smirk on his face. Vanellope walks over to the junk pile of scrap computers and machines where Josh goes to 'design' things. Josh watches carefully and E.D.I. taps Josh's shoulder showing the real time of the outside world. He nods. Josh waves his staff around and the room changes back to the hard drive setting. Vanellope sees.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Vanellope, the tour's getting cut up short."

"Why? Why, why, why, why?"

"I need to go. But will continue this. Promise."

"You better."

Josh nods. Vanellope heads out towards the light of the hard drive. Josh just watches.

"Vanellope.', Vanellope stops and turns around, 'Better yet, let's have a race.', Vanellope says, 'I could use a fresh reminder of the tracks of _Sugar Rush _and I feel as if I'm slipping."

Vanellope gets all excite and jumps in the air.

"You got it! YES! Now I'm ready to have some fun! Just you wait; I've been practicing my glitching to go even farther. You better watch yourself Josh! Because I'm getting better!"

Josh waves goodbye as Vanellope leaves. He sighs through his nose and closes his eyes.

"Get me out E.D.I."

E.D.I. nods and looks at her boards. Josh keeps his eyes closed as he fades away.

Closet…

Josh wraps up the cords and ties them around. He puts them in his backpack and walks out into the Arcade.

Arcade…

As Josh walks through the Arcade, he can't but help look at that one game _Cyrus the Virus_. A line is forming for kids to play it. But as they play it, they lose and get whipped. The players walk away as they rub their marked hands and seeing their failure of playing the game. Josh narrows his eyes as the line continues and finally, Josh leaves.

End of chapter 4…

Preview of chapter 5…

As Josh returns to the Arcade, he sees he's starting to hate this new game his father got. So he goes to unplug it but Mr. Litwak stops him before he can do it. Mr. Litwak tells him he needs the game to be plugged in because they don't make money for games that aren't plugged in. So Josh leaves it alone, but as Josh goes into Game Central Station. Josh meets Cyrus in person, and boy, is he pure evil. Talking about world domination and saying his game isn't enough. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 5 – Hello Cyrus


	5. Chapter 5 - Hello Cyrus

Chapter 5 – Hello Cyrus

Josh's Apartment…

Josh sets everything up like his original routine. He falls on the couch and rubs his eyes really hard. E.D.I. appears on his main plasma screen in her body format looking at Josh.

"I am detecting high levels of anxiety off of you Josh. Is something the matter?"

Josh sighs softly and leans forward.

"E.D.I. I need you to look something up for me."

"Of course. What will it be?"

Josh tilts his head and bites his lip.

"I need you to look up this video game. It's called _Cyrus the Virus_."

"Searching known games. '_Cyrus the Virus'_."

Josh waits for a response. He rubs his eyes and feels the back of his head where he feels the shock. His skin there behind his head and hair, Josh can feel some kind of burning mark there. Josh looks at his hand and rubs his fingers on his pants.

"I am sorry Josh but I have not come across any known games called '_Cyrus the Virus'_."

Josh looks at the screen lost and shocked.

"What? That's impossible, search again."

"I am sorry Josh, but I searched twice for known games and arcade games under that name. I have not come across any known sources of this game."

"This…this is impossible', Josh stands up, 'A brand new video game just doesn't pop out of nowhere. It had to be created by someone."

"You are correct, but there are no search results for '_Cyrus the Virus'._"

Josh shakes his head and walks to the Kitchen.

"This does not make any sense whatsoever."

"Indeed. It is quite the inquiry."

Josh shakes his head and opens the fridge. He grabs a Root Beer can and snaps it open.

"How does someone make an Arcade game and it just magically comes to Litwak's Arcade?"

"Chances are: Unknown."

Josh makes a face.

"Not helping E.D.I."

"I apologize."

"All I'm saying is E.D.I., why would someone make a video game and not keep known whereabouts of where it came from? Or admit that they made it?"

"Or it could be a single person."

"You really believe someone made that game all by their self?"

"You've made games all by yourself."

Josh smirks and walks away.

"That's because I can 'upload' a part of myself to the system E.D.I. I don't think anyone in this world would ever figure that out."

"If others were told about your discovery…"

"They would call me insane and a nut job. I believe we've been over this before E.D.I."

Josh walks away taking a sip of his Root Beer. He looks at it and forces it down his throat.

"It's not the same as _Tapper's._"

"Josh. May I ask you a question?"

Josh stops and looks at the plasma.

"Sure E.D.I. What is it?"

"Would you consider me as an A.I. or a V.I.?"

Josh stands there for a moment and thinks to himself as E.D.I. waits for an answer. He just shrugs.

"What do you think?"

"I am aware between both terms. When you created me I clearly remember every word."

Josh nods.

"Of course you do."

"You said that 'Hello. My name is Josh Litwak. You are my Digital Enhanced Interface. How does E.D.I. sound to be your name?'"

Josh just shakes his head with a small smile on his face.

"I remember that. The second I created you."

"You also said, 'How does that sound?' At first I didn't understand what you meant. And after I reached out to see what my programming can do, you also said, 'You're a part of me, I want you to have your own free will.'."

Josh nods.

"Yeah, I did say that E.D.I."

"By asking me that, I had my first thought. So I became self-aware. That would make me an A.I."

"Yeah, it sounds like you are."

"But I restrict my search logs from anything outside the connection lines. I know I can bypass them, if you wanted me to, so that would make me a V.I."

Josh scratches his head.

"I guess so."

"So which am I Josh?"

"E.D.I…you're…whoever you want to be. I can't make that decision for you."

"But why?"

"Because if you can think for yourself and know the answer you don't need me."

"What you say, I understand', Josh nods, 'So then I feel alive."

That catches Josh's attention.

"You feel alive E.D.I.?"

"In a…sense Josh. According to what you said, you can't bring or make a character come to life. Especially with your new assignment you got from your professor."

Josh nods.

"Thanks for reminding me E.D.I."

"If it's hard for you to create someone completely new, was it hard for you to create me?"

Josh thinks about that question for a second. He takes a sip of his drink and sighs.

"You're different E.D.I. You're not like my friends in the Arcade. They have 'jobs' they have to do so they don't raise suspicion. Trust me; I remember that speech from Calhoun. I don't ever plan on releasing you out to the public E.D.I. Everyone wouldn't know what to do with you."

"I see. If you don't mind Josh. I have one more question I would like to ask you."

Josh sighs.

"Of course E.D.I. What is it?"

"Why 'E.D.I.'?', Josh just blinks to the question, 'According to my research, 'E.D.I.' is the name of a game character from the _Mass Effect _series.', Josh smiles to hearing E.D.I. finally discovering her name, 'Why pick a name like that for me? Do I share a common resemblance?"

Josh takes the last sip of his drink and tosses it in the garbage.

"_Mass Effect _was one of my favorite games. From the first one right to the end of the trilogy. Could have worked a little better on the ending. Sorry Bioware, I was one of the many fans who didn't have enough closure for the ending. But the one character you mentioned, 'E.D.I.', of all characters she seemed like the brightest. Even if she was just the _Normandy _in the second and a walking cy-borg in the third one.', laughs, 'And I have to be honest, it was funny with her and _Joker _at each other. Ha, ha."

"My question, please?"

"Right. Right, sorry. I don't know. It just seemed like the right name for you. In a way, you do resemble 'E.D.I.' from the _Mass Effect _series."

"If that's a compliment, I am still trying to get it."

Josh walks to his room.

"Have fun with that one E.D.I. Good night."

"Good night Josh."

Josh waves and goes to his room.

Following Day…

Litwak's Arcade…

Josh enters the Arcade. But as he enters, he notices that not many kids are in the Arcade today. Not even half.

"What the hell is this?" Josh whispers to himself

Josh walks around and sees the few kids playing the random games. As Josh walks around, he spots the new game that arrived, _Cyrus the Virus_. Josh walks and stands a few feet in front of it, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"A strange game that you are…who created you?" Josh whispers

As Josh continues to stand there, Tommy sneaks up behind him and pushes him.

"Hey!" Tommy yells

Josh turns and sees that it was only Tommy.

"Tommy. Hey, what's up?"

"Just playing a few games, you know?"

Josh nods.

"Well you're in the right place."

"Hey Josh, you got a dollar?"

Josh crosses his arms.

"Why?

"I only have a quarter left and your Dad will give me more if I give him cash."

"So you want to 'borrow' it from me then, right?"

"I'll pay you back."

"When?"

Tommy scratches the back of his head looking a bit off.

"It's only a dollar. Can't you let it go?"

Josh sighs and looks back down at Tommy just giving him the puppy dog eyes. He reaches in his wallet and gives him the buck.

"Take it before I change my mind."

Tommy smiles happily and swipes the dollar out of Josh's hand.

"Thanks!"

Tommy runs off looking for Josh's Dad. Josh turns back around and looks at _Cyrus the Virus _again. Tommy comes back with the four extra quarters in his hand.

"Sweet, you're the man Josh', Tommy notices Josh looking at _Cyrus the Virus_, 'Want to try it out?"

Josh looks back down at Tommy.

"What?', points, 'That?"

"Yeah. I think I'm getting better."

Josh looks back and shakes his head.

"I don't know. Something's not right about that game Tommy."

"It's a little hard, but that's what makes it so much challenging."

"You haven't played it and got whipped have you?"

"I yank my hand out right before I die. See', Tommy shows and Josh sees no mark, 'But it's weird though."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What's weird?"

"I've played my fair share of games all the time but this one…something is defiantly different about it."

Josh nods in agreement.

"That's for sure."

"There's such an interesting story about it."

Josh slowly looks back down.

"You know the story?"

Tommy looks up.

"Yeah, why?"

"I had E.D.I.', coughs and shakes his head, 'I looked everywhere online about this game, and nothing came up about it."

"Well maybe you're not looking in the right places."

Josh makes a face.

"Do you want me to ask for my money back?"

Tommy puts his hands up.

"Sorry, sorry."

Josh fixes his coat.

"All right then. Since you know a little bit more about this game then I do, mind sharing?"

"Sure. For a price." Tommy says with a smirk

Josh narrows his eyes really hard.

"Don't. PUSH it."

"Okay, okay. Relax. What I know about this game is that it seems to be set in some sort of apocalypse ruled by yours truly Cyrus."

"Cyrus?"

"Yeah, he's some type of 'experiment gone wrong' sort of thing you know?"

"I've heard of those."

"Well that's what the story says."

"How did the world become an apocalypse?"

"By Cyrus himself. He went against humanity and turned everything against them."

Josh just looks confused.

"Wait, your telling me Cyrus, by himself destroyed the entire world?"

"The thing about Cyrus is, well, he's an actual virus."

"The name explains it all doesn't it?"

"I know. If you get infected by him he can control you through his mind. You're like a vessel under his will being controlled."

"But wait, what about the enemies you fight that kill you every single time?"

"Those are just the people who survived during the breakdown of civilization. They got infected and they turned into these husks under Cyrus's control."

Josh whistles.

"So it's once you're infected, your pretty much done for?"

"Not right away. There's some sort of a transmutation process. It takes a while for you to turn into one of Cyrus's husk things but once your infected….', Tommy shakes his head, 'You can feel it."

Josh sighs.

"So what about the character you play? How is he not like anyone else and how does he have electric powers?"

"Oh, yeah, Hero. That's his name', Josh rolls his eyes, 'Hero was born after the apocalypse by the people who created Cyrus. Knowing the only high powers of electricity can only stop Cyrus's virus, they just transformed Hero's DNA to 'fight' off the infection and kill any Cyrus's husks."

"So he's immune to the virus?"

"Exactly."

"Huh…but how come you keep dying? If you're immune you can easily pass up all of Cyrus's husks."

"There's a fricken lot of them! There's like a million husks between you and the Tower."

"Tower? What Tower?"

"Oh that's another story. I can't quite confirm it yet but I'll tell you when I find out."

"Tommy, do me a favor and…not play the game."

Tommy narrows his eyes.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Something about that game doesn't feel right. Just for now, don't play it until I figure out what's going on."

"Oh come on Josh, it's just a game."

"Promise me."

"Seriously?"

"Tommy."

Tommy sees how serious Josh is about him not playing the game. He sighs hard and nods.

"All right I won't play it."

Josh nods.

"Good."

"Can I at least play the other games here?"

"Yeah of course. But you better hurry; you don't want to wait in line to long to play from all the kids here."

"Yeah that's weird. The other day this place was booming, now it seems like less kids are coming here to play."

"They have their XBOX and Playstation systems."

"I have both of them and I still come here to play."

Josh sort of smiles.

"That you do Tommy."

"I just wish my friends were here though."

Josh looks down.

"Why aren't they here anyway?"

Tommy looks back.

"They got sick all of a sudden. And that's weird too."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Why's that?"

"They all have the same symptoms."

Josh crosses his arms to that acknowledgement. Tommy runs off playing the other games. Josh looks back at _Cyrus the Virus _and walks towards it. He stares at the big screen before him and looks down at the controls. The main menu pops up and Cyrus taunts the player, Josh to play the game. Josh narrows his eyes and walks back to the cord to the surge bar. As Josh kneels down ready to unplug the game, he looks back at the console.

"Can't play ya when you're not even working."

As Josh yanks on the cord, Mr. Litwak stops him.

"Josh stop! What are you doing?"

Mr. Litwak lifts Josh up and Josh backs off.

"Nothing. I was just unplugging that game."

"Why?"

"Because…no one's playing it and you could use less power usage if no one's playing it. You know, for the bills?"

Mr. Litwak rolls his eyes.

"The bills are fine Josh and I don't make money if the games aren't plugged in."

Mr. Litwak bends over and plugs the game back in. Josh looks over and watches the console turn back on.

"Yeah, but, Dad. Something's not right about that game. You have to believe me on this."

"Josh I'm sorry. The game stays plugged in whether you like it or not."

"But…"

"No buts, it stays on even though no one's playing it. Got it?"

Josh sighs and puts his hands in his pocket.

"Got it."

Mr. Litwak nods and walks off. Josh looks over at the game and stares at it very hard. He heads to the broom closet and uploads himself to Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

Josh spins around his staff. Just twirls it around his finger, over and over again like an old dance performer in the 1920s. As Josh walks through the Station, he sees the entrance to the game _Cyrus the Virus._ That same growth thing is stuck all around the entrance. The orange, red like growth just sits there like a fungus. Josh starts to remember what Tommy told him about the plot of the story.

_So Cyrus's army were people who survived the apocalypse and turned into husks. Controlled by Cyrus himself, his actual 'virus' can travel through people. They must feel pretty horrible once they realize that they are infected. Slowly dying perhaps? Can't imagine what it's like to be infected by Cyrus himself…_

Josh looks to the side and sees the entrance to _Hero's Duty_. Knowing Calhoun might be in there, Josh heads in there to meet up with her.

_Hero's Duty…_

At the shooting range, Calhoun shoots alone. She aims her pistol at a target single-handedly. Bang, bang, bang! The target comes back and it's just full of holes. Calhoun smirks at the well placed shots she made and sets up a new target. She takes aims and fires. Around the corner, Josh comes about and sees Calhoun just shooting. He shakes his head with a small smile on his face and goes over towards her.

Josh stands behind Calhoun without her knowing. He sees she's shooting really well at the target placed in the distance. With Josh's staff placed on his back, he gets it and swings it around. Josh stands in the next spot of right by Calhoun and see still doesn't notice he's there. He aims his staff at the available target down range. Calhoun finishes off her last round and suddenly, BOOOM! She jumps wondering who just shot that round.

Josh just stands there without even feeling the effect of the recoil. Calhoun spins around and sees Josh is in the booth right next to her. Josh spins around his staff and throws it on his back. Calhoun crosses her arms and watches Josh bring his target back to him. But, there's literally no target to bring back because it was vaporized by his shot. Josh turns around with a smile on his face.

"Not too bad I'd say so myself."

Calhoun walks back to her booth and brings back her target. Josh watches as Calhoun's target comes back with several holes and still intact. He nods at Calhoun's target.

"Not bad of those groupings', Calhoun smiles, 'But you still have the entire target unlike mine."

"Well excuse me; I don't have a cane like yours."

Josh chuckles.

"It's a staff. Big difference."

"Whatever."

Calhoun shuts off the range and walks away. Josh just watches.

"Whoa, wait up."

Calhoun continues to walk away as Josh catches up to her.

"Where you going?"

"To meet up with Felix."

"Can you possible postpone that?"

Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"Why would I want to do that?" Calhoun asks with a blank stare on her face

"Well the reason is very important. I need you and your men."

Calhoun stops walking. Josh sees and Calhoun slowly turns around.

"You want something from me?"

Josh blinks and slowly nods.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

Calhoun crosses her arms and Josh takes notice. He slowly backs up and walks around Calhoun.

"Fine. I'll do it myself."

Josh walks away and pulls out his staff behind his back. Calhoun just watches as Josh boards the train and heads back to Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

Josh arrives in Game Central Station exiting from the entrance of _Hero's Duty_. He looks down the Station and sees the entrance to _Cyrus the Virus_. Josh looks serious and heads down that way. Throughout the Station, Vanellope notices and spots Josh.

"Josh! Hey Josh!"

Josh doesn't pay attention to it, but Vanellope sees Josh heading to the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus_.

"Why's he going in there?" Vanellop asks whispering to herself

Josh turns the corner and sees the growth. He also notices that it looks different. It looks like its alive, perhaps now that it's plugged in unlike when it wasn't. Josh takes a deep breath and flies over the growth to the entrance of the game. As Josh lands in front of it, he just sees an empty dark tunnel of the cord.

"Okay this doesn't look right either', clears throat, 'Hello~?!"

Josh's 'hello' echoes through the cord. Nothing but silence afterwards.

"The games still plugged in…something is definitely not right here."

As Josh takes a step forward, his feet get stuck to the ground. Josh looks down and sees.

"Huh?"

Suddenly the cord starts shooting out strong gusts of wind. Josh feels it and tries to escape but he can't move.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!"

The wind gets stronger and suddenly, Josh gets picked up by it and thrown out the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus._ Vanellope comes around the corner and just sees Josh fly right over her and slides on the ground.

"Josh?"

Josh slides and finally stops. Nearby game characters see what Josh is doing and he quickly pushes himself up.

"What the hell?"

Josh sees Vanellope running towards him. Vanellope glitches halfway and reappears right beside him.

"Josh are you okay?"

Josh's about to answer but suddenly the wind gets stronger.

"Vanellope get down!"

The various game characters start feeling the wind hitting around them too. Josh keeps his balance trying to see what's going on but the wind is blowing hard into his eyes. The various game characters take cover and suddenly, Cyrus himself finally comes out of his game. Flying into Game Central Station. Josh just watches as this character flies down and lands on the ground. And as he lands, the ground below him burns. Cyrus looks around at all the characters of Game Central Station looking at him. Josh slowly stands up.

_So this must be Cyrus. Besides seeing him laugh at the players when they lose against this game. He looks different in person. His burning orange eyes are definitely a trait you can't forget about this guy. You can see them glowing a mile away! And plus, he's, HUGE! He's got to be at least seven feet tall. His name literally expresses himself off, 'Cyrus the Virus'? I can see his 'virus' just moving around him like its part of his body…_

Josh takes a step forward and Cyrus quickly notices. Cyrus snaps his fingers and suddenly his growth around the entrance to his game shoots up and suddenly his goons appear and everyone runs for it. Josh narrows his eyes seeing what Cyrus just did. He sees several of Cyrus's goons standing before him. Cyrus just waves his finger around.

"Ah…ah…ah…', Josh narrows his eyes, 'Don't take another step."

Josh gulps and stands tall.

"What do you want?"

Cyrus points at himself.

"What? What do I want?', Cyrus laughs, 'What do I want? Hmm…let me think."

Josh stares at Cyrus hard while he thinks. Cyrus rubs his chin and points at Josh.

"You. I want you…Josh."

Josh blinks shockingly that Cyrus knows is name.

"How-How do you know my name?"

"I know EVERYTHING about you Josh Litwak. Or else as everyone knows you as, The Gamer."

Josh narrows his eyes really hard at Cyrus.

"I haven't been called 'The Gamer' in a long time. Didn't you know that?"

"All I know is what I hear and see, I'm not up to date with the hand to hand knowledge."

"Oh what a shame."

"But all I have to do is touch one little piece of you and I have all the knowledge I want."

Cyrus takes a step out behind his goons and walks to Josh. Josh quickly throws out and points his staff at Cyrus, he stops walking.

"You won't be touching me Cyrus."

Cyrus steps back and looks at Josh pointing his staff at him.

"A cane? Really?"

Josh makes a face and tilts his head.

"A staff. It's, a, STAFF."

"However you want to call it, that's up to you."

"Fair warning Cyrus. Go back into your game. And stay there. I don't want you in Game Central Station again."

Cyrus looks shocked.

"You telling me what I'm going to do?"

"Would you like me to show you?"

Cyrus smiles funny.

"Please."

Josh snaps his thumbs and suddenly copies of him surround Cyrus and his goons. Cyrus looks and sees Josh's copies with guns pointed at them. He looks back at Josh. Josh just shrugs.

"Good enough show for you?"

Cyrus begins to chuckle under his breath. Josh takes notice. Amongst the crowd, Calhoun walks out and sees Josh and for the first time, Cyrus going at each other's throats.

"Little boy…I'll give you five seconds to turn back your copies or…"

"Or what?" Josh asks holding his staff firmer

Cyrus sighs.

"Or they'll be mine."

Josh blinks and slowly gulps.

"Your bluffing.', Cyrus smirks, 'My copies are mine and mine only. There's no way you can control them…"

"Five, four, three, two, one."

Josh blinks and suddenly Cyrus's goons attack Josh's copies.

"Attack!" Josh orders

Josh's copies open fire on the goons but as they shoot, they don't do much towards them anyway. Cyrus's goons walk up to Josh's copies and just, dig their hands into Josh's copies chests. Josh just watches as his copies get mutated by the virus and infected at a quick rate. Josh's copies start to lose control of their programming that were made by Josh himself. Cyrus's goons throw their hands back and Josh's copies twitch all over the place.

Cyrus just smirks as he sees now that he's got Josh's copies under his control. Josh watches horrified seeing the copies he made for himself are now under Cyrus's control. They still look like Josh, but certain parts of their bodies have growth defects and certain parts are showing that they are infected like Cyrus's goons. Cyrus snaps his fingers and Josh's copies turn at Josh himself. Josh just looks at his copies who now have glowing orange eyes.

"Now…where were we?"

Josh gulps. Vanellope just watches horrified and Josh waves his hand.

"Vanellope get out of here."

"But Josh…"

"Go!"

Cyrus points his hand at Josh and his copies run at him. Vanellope glitches and Josh throws around his staff at his incoming copies. Josh spins around the staff and throws it into the ground hard. The copies fly back and Josh flies up in the air. Cyrus just crosses his arms seeing what Josh is doing. Josh fights his copies throwing his staff into their bodies making them get killed into a million pieces. He ducks and deflects trying not to get scratched because he doesn't want to catch or get infected by Cyrus's virus.

The crowd just watches as Josh's own copies play tricks to get Josh at his own game. As Josh jumps in the air, he lands in front of his copy who tries to attack him but Josh deflects his attacks by his staff. Josh spins the top part around his copies neck and throws him far into the wall. He sees what he did and smiles.

"Yeah, that's right…"

But behind, Josh's copy comes up with a sneak attack without Josh's knowing. But suddenly, BANG! Josh turns around and sees his copy fall to the side and smash up into a million pieces. Someone shot him; Josh turns at the crowd and sees that it was Calhoun. She draws back her gun and points it up. Josh nods and two more of his copies come at him.

"Behind you Josh!" Felix yells jumping up

Josh jumps up high in the air and his copies look up. He throws down his staff at them and BOOM. Smoke shoots everywhere and Josh lands back down on the ground. The smoke clears and everyone sees Josh's last two copies break apart into a million pieces. Josh stands up and points his hand at his staff. It gets lifted up and flies right back at Josh. Josh twirls it around and slams it on the ground.

"No more copies ever again." Josh says shaking his head

Cyrus sighs and vanishes. Josh wipes himself off as he's got little pieces of his copies all over him.

"Am I this dirty? Really? My own selves?"

Cyrus reappears behind Josh and Josh isn't aware. Vanellope sees and points.

"Josh! Look out!"

Josh looks up and Cyrus slightly scratches the back of Josh's neck. Josh spins around and points his staff at Cyrus.

"I'm not playing around anymore Cyrus. Get back in your game now!"

Cyrus shakes his head and smiles funny. Josh notices.

"Why are you so happy?"

Cyrus chuckles.

"How does it feel to know you can come and go any time you want?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"How do you know that?"

Cyrus shrugs.

"I'm not blind I can see clearly through my games screen. I see all the kids who want to play only to see them fail miserable. But you…your different…Josh."

Josh looks hard at Cyrus.

"But don't worry Josh. Even if you're not here in front of me like this. You'll see me again whether you like it or not."

Josh holds his staff firmly.

"I don't know who you think you are. But you're just a video game villain. Nothing more."

Cyrus then starts to laugh. Cyrus laughs hysterically that it echoes through Game Central Station and Josh covers his ears.

"A 'video game villain'. Is that what you think I am?"

"What else are you? You're just the bad guy. The hero always beats the bad guy."

"Like in my game? Please…you've seen how it plays out."

Josh shakes his head remembering the gameplay from it.

"A few hiccups but you'll get defeated. Every video game villain gets defeated in the end."

"You still don't get it do you Gamer.', Josh just blinks, 'You think I'll be stuck here like everyone else here? In this hell hole?"

"Hey!"

"In time Gamer. You'll see what I'm after. Now you'll excuse me, I have a few friends I need to inform on." Cyrus says walking away

Josh watches.

"You have friends? Since when? I thought the world in your game ended."

Cyrus stops walking. He slowly turns around and stares hard at Josh.

"You think I'm the only one in there?', Josh just blinks, 'Let me tell you a little secret about my game Gamer…there's more threats in there besides me and my virus. Before you can reach me, you have to go through with a few of my friends."

Josh gulps to hear that idea. Cyrus smirks and walks back into his game. He snaps his fingers and his goons disappear right before Josh's eyes. Josh sighs in relief and loses his balance.

"Phew. That didn't go as I expected."

The gang circles up around Josh.

"You okay Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh shakes his head.

"I…don't know. I'm still processing what I just saw."

"Do you always go looking for trouble or does it seem to find you?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks funny at Calhoun and kicks up his staff.

"On a good day, yes. On a bad, defiantly. Thanks by the way. See ya later."

Josh walks away and heads back to his Hard Drive. As he walks away, the scratch on the back of his neck starts to show a little. But Josh isn't aware of it.

Litwak Arcade…

Josh walks out through the Arcade and just stares hard the game console of _Cyrus the Virus._ Another kid plays the game and fails horrible dying. He gets his hand whipped on the hand and walks away. Josh just watches and looks back at the game. Cyrus laughs behind the screen and Josh clenches his fist. He walks to the exit of the Arcade and suddenly stops. Josh looks around and sees the world getting blurry for some reason. He shakes his head and gets his vision back. Josh looks down at his hand and sees it getting blurry for some reason. He shakes his head really hard this time and gets his vision back.

"I need a break or something…"

Josh leaves and gets on his bike. He then heads home.

End of chapter 5…

Preview of chapter 6…

As Josh heads home he starts to feel a little bit under the weather. And it seems to be getting worse because Josh is showing the same symptoms as several other kids in the same hospital. The doctor explains that Josh isn't the only one showing the same signs of these weird symptoms. Blurred vision, abnormal twitches of body parts and loss of time. But that's only the first signs of the first stage. The second and third stages according to the doctor are just worse. Josh needs a cure and quick or he'll be just like every other kid with the virus. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 6 - Infected


	6. Chapter 6 - Infected

Chapter 6 – Infected

Josh rides home on his bike. So much time has passed when Josh was in the Arcade, Game Central Station. As Josh discovered before, time moves faster inside the game world which Josh spent hours in. It's nearly ten P.M. As Josh pulls into his home, the gates jump and Josh boards the elevator.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks into his Apartment and the first thing he does is plug E.D.I. in.

"Lights E.D.I', E.D.I. turns on the lights of the whole Aapartment, 'Thank you."

Josh walks over to his record player and slides a new one on.

"Let's hear some good old jazz."

The record spins around and Josh drops the pin. The music starts up and Josh nods. As Josh nods, his right hand twitches just a little. Josh bobs his head slowly and looks down. He sees his hand twitching and lifts it up. Josh stares at his hand and shakes it off. He walks over towards his Kitchen and grabs a Root Beer. But then Josh shows a disgusted look on his face.

"That's what I forgot…_Tapper's_! I guess that's something else I should thank Calhoun for." Josh says shaking his head

Josh walks on over towards his sofa and sits down. He puts his feet up and takes a sip of his Root Beer.

"TV E.D.I."

The plasma turns on and Josh just watches the different channels being changed every five seconds.

"Find me something that has action in it."

"Very well."

E.D.I. changes the channel to a movie that's on that has 'action' in it. Josh watches the car chases and explosions. He nods.

"Find me something with adventure."

"Searching for 'adventure'."

Josh waits patiently and E.D.I. scans through the shows. E.D.I. finds a movie that has adventure in it and Josh just watches and takes notes of the certain kind of adventure that's being shown right in front of him.

"Uh-huh…of course…"

"Is there anything else?"

Josh sighs softly through his nose.

"Show me…romance…"

"Romance Josh?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"I'm taking notes, go ahead. Please do so."

"Very well. Scanning for 'romance'."

Josh leans forward waiting for the results of what he wanted E.D.I. to look for. E.D.I. finally brings something up.

"Given the subject of 'romance'. I have come across several responses in different types of ways."

Josh sighs.

"Of course."

"Would you like me to narrow down your search?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No E.D.I. That's fine."

Josh takes another sip of his drink and scratches the back of his head. He moves his hand down further over the little cut that Cyrus gave him in Game Central Station. But as Josh moves his hand closer to the scratch, he pauses. Josh remains completely still. Suddenly his hand with the Root Beer shakes and Josh lets go. All is silent then suddenly CRASH. Josh finally snaps out of it and looks down.

"What the hell?!" Josh yells jumping up

"Is everything alright Josh?"

Josh walks away and goes to grab some towels.

"I don't know. One second I'm thinking about something the next my Root Beer is all over the floor." Josh explains walking back to the mess

Josh throws the towels over the puddle; he carefully picks up the glass shards that are in a million pieces. He sets the big chunks down on the table and looks for any more pieces. Josh isn't aware of it but as he presses hard down on the puddle, a small glass shard snips him on his finger.

"Ow!"

Josh examines his fingers and sees a small drip of blood coming out. E.D.I. takes notice.

"I detect that you are injured."

Josh shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

"Thanks for the observation E.D.I." Josh says walking towards the bathroom

"Do you require medical assistance?"

"No E.D.I. I'm good. No need for an ambulance." Josh says disappearing in the bathroom

Josh hits the light switch and flips on the sink. He washes his bleeding finger on the tip and sees the small puncture. Josh shakes his head and sees it is nothing.

"Not so bad. Could be worse', finds a Band-Aid, 'They could be in my face. Like someone I once knew." Josh says making a face at the end

As Josh ties the Band-Aid around his finger, he uses his left hand to wash water on his face. Josh sighs hard after each splash and grabs a towel. He dries himself off and sets the towel down. Josh slowly looks up and stares at his face. He examines his face very carefully, seeing every detail, every scratch or mark he's received. Nothing is new so Josh looks at his eyeballs. Same old color, nothing of a major change. Josh turns around and walks out of the bathroom, but as he does, he looks over his shoulder at his reflection one more time.

In an instant, he sees his eye color. And their orange. Just as in a second, he hits the switch. Josh quickly spins back around and turns them back on. He stares hard at his reflection and sees his eyes the same color as they always were. Josh walks over to the mirror and shoves his face really close to the mirror.

"Am I seeing things now?"

Josh blinks several times seeing that his eyes aren't different but the same. He shakes his head and walks out of the bathroom.

"I need some sleep.

Josh heads to his Bedroom and crashes hard on his mattress. He digs his head into his pillow and looks straight down.

"Wake me up at ten tomorrow E.D.I."

"Very well Josh."

Josh spins around and sits straight up listening to the record player playing in the other room.

"Night E.D.I."

E.D.I. turns off all the lights in the Apartment.

"Sweet dreams Josh."

Josh smirks and finally gets comfortable. Throughout the night, Josh has some abnormal dreaming. Josh closes his eyes even harder even though they are closed. His dreams are, intense. Like seeing Isaac Clarke enter his mind through the warp footage. Josh slowly opens his eyes and sits up straight, as he does, he finds himself not in his room anymore, but on an empty street intersection.

Josh slowly stands up and sees the deserted street. Some wind blows his way. Josh scans the area seeing the fiery skies above him. No blue skies anymore, just the mixes of red and orange, like the sky is on fire. Josh looks down at the buildings and sees them decayed, burnt out, some of them still burning. But Josh looks closer and sees that same fungus growing on them like he saw at the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus _in Game Central Station.

"What is this place?" Josh says with an echo

Josh narrows his eyes and hears an echo coming from. Behind him, a lookalike with his head down just stands there. Josh slowly turns around and sees the figure too. The lookalike is dressed exactly like Josh but in a darker way.

"Hello?"

The figure slowly raises his head and reveals to be Josh. Josh flinches seeing himself but almost like a husk of Cyrus.

"No way…" Josh whispers

The lookalike raises his hand with the staff like Josh always carries in Game Central Station. Josh looks and the lookalike shoots a bolt at Josh and it hits him on his hand. Josh flinches and grabs his hand holding it tightly.

"Ah!"

The lookalike lowers his hand with the staff and Josh looks down at his hand. As Josh looks down, he sees the same type of fungus not just sticking to his hand, but slowly growing into his hand and up his arm.

"No…no…no, no!"

The lookalike watches as Josh struggles with the virus spreading around into his body. It moves into his chest and jumps down at his legs and into his feet. It moves into his other arm and it slowly goes up his neck.

"Stop! STOP! STOP! Someone help!"

"That's exactly what I'm doing." Cyrus says in a voiceless body not yet seen

Josh looks around to see whose talking. Suddenly Cyrus flies by and lands next to Josh's lookalike.

"Yo-You!"

"I told you you'd be seeing me again."

Josh starts to lose feel of his body. He drops down to his knees seeing his hands change into abnormal hands with the fungus shooting out in stretch marks out of his hands.

"Don't fight it." Cyrus says

"Shut up!"

Josh struggles as the virus moves up and into his mind. He feels it. Josh feels the burning sensation throughout his body.

"Ahhhh~!"

Cyrus and Josh's lookalike just watch with blank stares on their faces. Josh's scream finally stop and he breathes heavily. Cyrus just watches.

"Stand before me."

Josh slowly stands up now looking like a husk standing before him. Cyrus sees Josh with his eyes closed.

"Open your eyes…and see yourself standing before you."

Josh slowly opening his eyes. His eyes now burning orange. Josh sees his lookalike before him but instead, he's not looking at his lookalike, he's looking at himself in a reflection in a mirror. Josh slowly looks down at his hands and back at his reflection. Cyrus stands beside him now.

"Like the new you?"

Josh looks up at Cyrus and back at his reflection. He shakes his head and starts banging it on the glass.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Cyrus starts laughing seeing Josh is starting to make a crack in the glass. Josh keeps banging his head over and over again and the crack gets bigger. He stops and stares at himself seeing now he's completely under Cyrus's control. Cyrus continues to laugh and Josh just sees the giant crack in the mirror. Josh takes a step backwards and runs at the crack. He jumps through the crack and into complete darkness.

Morning…

Josh jumps up and GASPS very loudly. He breathes heavily and looks down at his hands. E.D.I. takes notice right away.

"Josh, is everything alright?"

Josh quickly rolls out of his bed and towards his Bathroom.

Bathroom…

Josh barges into his Bathroom and flips on the switch. He runs straight up to the mirror and checks his face out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no…"

Josh stares directly into his eyes and sees no orange color whatsoever. He then checks out his hands and arms seeing no fungus growing their or no rupture skin. Josh then throws off his shirt and checks out his top part of his body out. He spins around checking different angles of his body, still no signs of any skin growth or cracked up skin. Josh turns on his bathroom sink and splashes water on his face over and over again.

"Uhhh…uhhhhh!"

"Josh?"

"What is it E.D.I.?"

"I was told to inform you that it is ten 'o' clock."

Josh shakes his head and turns off the sink.

"Thanks E.D.I."

Josh grabs a towel and drives his face off.

"Josh?"

Josh sighs and sets down the towel.

"What is it E.D.I.?" Josh asks with a look on his face

"According to my scans, you were experiencing some unusual brain activity. Abnormal beta alpha and beta waves. My scans also showed an increase in rapid eye movement. Signs of intense dreaming."

Josh shakes his head.

"That was no 'dream' E.D.I. I never had a dream in which it felt so real before. That's for sure."

"Then in this case, 'nightmare' is more of the word."

Josh nods and grabs his shirt.

"Yeah! It was a nightmare."

Josh walks out and into the main room. He opens the fridge and pulls out a cup of OJ. Josh drinks it and walks in the center of the room.

"E.D.I. do me a favor and calculate the quickest route to school for me."

"Right away Josh."

"I need to talk to my professor about my assignment."

Josh goes through his morning routine before heading out.

Later…

Josh slides on his coat and E.D.I. uploads the quickest route to his school. He takes his hard drive and slides it in his back pocket. Josh walks to the elevator and slides down the doors. He hits the switch to the Garage level and goes down. As the elevator goes down, Josh leans up against the back wall and sighs. Josh closes his eyes just hearing the elevators power taking him down. Then all of a sudden, Josh's vision goes black for a second.

Josh opens his eyes and finds himself on his bike. He looks around all confused and back at the elevator which he was just on. Josh looks back down at his bike and sees it on and running. Also his GPS is all hooked up like it normally is. Josh looks down at his hands and wonders how he got from the elevator to his bike already.

"How did I get from there to here? I was on the elevator.', Josh shakes his head and puts on his helmet, 'To much gaming."

Josh throttles back and speeds off at his school.

Westwood College…

Professor Arthur's Class…

Josh walks into Professor Arthur's Class and sees some of the students working. He looks around and spots Professor Arthur in his office. Josh walks over and knocks on the door.

"Professor Arthur?"

Professor Arthur looks up and sees Josh.

"Josh. Done already?"

Josh shakes his head with a small smile.

"No. I haven't even started the assignment yet."

"Is there a problem?"

Josh scratches his head.

"More or less."

"Have a seat."

Josh walks over and sits down across from Professor Arthur.

"What's the problem Josh?"

Josh sighs as he begins talking about his problem.

"I don't know. It's just that I can't seem to create a whole new character from scratch."

"What's your basic concept of a main character in your game?"

"Hero obviously."

"Of course, people usually go for the hero types."

"But that's not even the half of it."

"What then?"

As Josh goes onto explaining the problem, without him knowing his left foot twitches. Josh doesn't take notice of it and finishes explaining.

"I know it sounds crazy but what if I can't create a character people like?"

"Well it's not about first impression. If the character is suited right for the game and how it plays out then the player will just have to get used to it."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"You're the one who said first impressions do count. You said it plenty of times when I turned in my work."

Professor Arthur sighs.

"Well since you're going to use logic. Shit Josh. Okay…let me think for a second."

Professor Arthur thinks for a second and Josh waits. The twitching in his foot climbs up to his leg and Josh's leg jumps. That attracts Josh's attention and sees his leg twitching.

"The hell?"

Josh grabs hold of his thigh and holds it. Professor Arthur spins around on his chair and suddenly Josh jerks his arm out and Josh sees it.

"Huh?"

Josh holds his shoulder and suddenly his other arm jerks.

"Whoa!"

Josh holds his arms tightly and wraps them around his body. Professor Arthur turns around and sees Josh wrapping himself up.

"You okay Josh?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't kno…', Josh's arms jerk out and he twitches, Professor Arthur flinches seeing Josh twitching like crazy, 'Uhh, help!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Anything!"

Josh jumps backwards and falls over the chair. Professor Arthur jumps and goes to Josh's aid.

"Josh, you alright?"

Josh breathes heavily and pushes himself up.

"I don't know. I have to go."

Josh quickly runs out of the room and Professor Arthur just watches.

Outside in the Parking Lot…

Josh sits on his bike and puts on his helmet. Suddenly his arms start twitching and Josh tries to hold it in.

"What is going on!?"

Josh connects his phone inside his helmet directly to E.D.I.

"E.D.I.! Call a doctor for me!"

"What kind of doctor would you like?"

Josh sighs hard.

"Any! I don't care! Make an appointment! I'm on my way to the hospital right now!"

"I will make the appointment. Are you alright Josh?"

Josh looks down at his hand and sees it blurry. He shakes his head and gets his vision back.

"I'm going to find out."

Josh spins the bike around and heads straight to the Hospital without twitching getting himself more into an accident then he needs.

Hospital…

Josh leans forward and sighs. He rubs his eyes from the strange blurry vision he's getting. Josh shakes his head and looks around at the other kids in the room. There's a whole bunch of them. Kids from all over. Some of them keep rubbing their eyes from the brightness of the room. Josh turns and notices several kids twitching as well. He narrows his eyes as a nurse finally comes by and calls his name.

"Josh Litwak?', Josh turns and stands up, the Nurse sees, 'Your Doctor is ready to see you."

Josh follows the Nurse and goes into the room.

Later…

The Doctor gives Josh a regular examination. He checks out his eyes very closely as Josh struggles to keep his eyes open from the bright light shining in.

"So, you're saying this 'blurred' vision has happened to you recently?" Doctor asks

"Yeah, last night. I thought it was nothing but it's happening more often for some reason."

"Uh-huh." Doctor says walking away

Josh takes a deep breath and notices his leg twitching.

"Also these twitches have come out of nowhere."

"Twitching too huh?" Doctor asks writing it down

"Yeah…" Josh says leaning back

The Doctor continues to write and snaps his pen and slides it in his pocket.

"You wouldn't happen to also have strange loss of time would you?"

Josh slowly raises his head and looks at the back of the Doctor's head.

"How do you know that?"

The Doctor turns around and looks at Josh.

"Did you see the Waiting Room when you came in?"

"Yeah. Lot of kids in there."

"Well, it seems every other hour more come in with the same exact symptoms you are experiencing Mr. Litwak."

"Those kids out there have the same thing as me?"

"Yes. It's the strangest thing. All those kids out there have the same like symptoms but we have no reason of why they have the same symptoms."

Josh gulps.

"Is it serious?"

"I don't know Mr. Litwak. But it's the strangest thing. How can all these kids have the same symptoms of one another? It doesn't make sense."

Josh looks around.

"Well, what can you do for me Doc?"

"Your blurred vision can possible be from sitting in front of a TV or computer screen for too long."

"It's both of those. You see I'm a game designer."

"For the time being, lay off it for a while."

Josh nods.

"Okay."

"Your twitching on the other hand, I'll need to do a brain scan."

"Sorry I can't."

"And your loss of time. Same thing."

Josh sighs.

"I can't afford it."

"Hang on, let me check something."

The Doctor walks to Josh and feels around his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Have you hit your head recently?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Hold on one second Mr. Litwak."

The Doctor feels all around Josh's head. The Doctor comes to the back where Josh sticks himself with the exposed wire where Josh injects himself with. The Doctor feels a strange skin formation back there.

"What's this?"

Josh narrows his eyes and the Doctor looks at it.

"This is strange.', Josh gulps, 'You got some kind of electric burn mark on the back of your head."

"Uhhh…"

"Have you been hit with a electrical current recently? This looks new."

"Accident Doctor. I was messing around with some exposed wires and got struck."

"Well, lay off from it. Getting struck with electricity on the head is very dangerous. Even with today's currents running through household outlets, they can likely kill someone."

Josh smirks and stands up.

"Understood Doc."

Josh leaves the Hospital and heads straight to the Arcade.

Litwak's Arcade…

Josh enters the Arcade and literally sees less than ten kids in the entire place.

"Now I know my eyes are deceiving me."

Josh walks around the Arcade seeing it more emptier then a graveyard. As Josh walks around, he spots his Father just sitting around.

"Dad!', Mr. Litwak turns and sees his son coming, 'What's going on?" Josh asks with his hands up

"Oh hi Josh. How are you?"

"Dad?"

"See how busy we are? Need any quarters?"

"Dad…where is everyone?"

"I don't know. I came here at opening, and no more than five kids have showed up. It's like there all somewhere else."

Josh gulps remembering seeing a bunch of kids at the Hospital. Mr. Litwak stands up and looks around.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

Josh watches as his Father walks around the Arcade. He sighs through his nose and follows him.

"I know what you can do. Go home. I'll lock up."

Mr. Litwak stops and turns around at his son.

"Josh…"

"You're obviously not busy. You ain't getting younger. Just go home Dad. I'll take care of everything I used to back in the day."

Mr. Litwak turns and stares at his son. He knows he's right. Mr. Litwak unclips his keys to the place and tosses them to Josh.

"You know what to do?"

Josh makes a face.

"Of course. Get out of here."

Mr. Litwak grabs his coat and leaves the Arcade. Josh spins the keys around and walks to the closet. Inside the closet, Josh gets ready to get zapped into Game Central Station. He stares at the exposed wire and remembers what the Doctor said.

"Done this plenty of times before Doc, I don't see why I should stop now."

Josh slowly backs his head up into the exposed wire. He gets shocked and his body limps down. A blue light flies through the cord and to Josh's Hard Drive.

Hard Drive…

Josh slowly opens his eyes seeing E.D.I. standing before him. He looks around and sees E.D.I. just staring at him.

"What?"

"You were saying something, what was it?"

Josh points at himself.

"I said something?', E.D.I. nods, 'I just got here."

"You've been here exactly five minutes and thirty four seconds."

Josh blinks to hearing this.

"I've been here that long?"

"Yes."

"What was I saying?"

"You were mumbling. I couldn't make out what you were saying', Josh scratches his head, 'You finally said my name and said 'what'."

Josh blinks and steps back.

"Okay…going to pretend nothing bad has happened and get that race on with Vanellope. Later E.D.I."

E.D.I. stands there and pulls up more of her screens.

Game Central Station…

Josh arrives in Game Central Station and looks around the place. In the distance, he spots Vanellope talking to Ralph. Josh smiles and moves his way towards them.

"It won't work Vanellope."

"Yes it will! If I focus hard enough I can glitch through objects."

"I don't know kid."

Josh flies by and slides by.

"More talk about glitching Vanellope?"

Vanellope looks up and Ralph looks down.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

"You know that race I promised? Let's go."

"Really?! Sweet! Let's go! Come on!"

Josh nods with a smile on his face and watches Vanellope glitch her way towards _Sugar Rush._ Ralph goes ahead and follows. Josh just watches and suddenly his vision gets blurry again.

"Ahhh…."

Josh rubs his eyes and tries to get his vision back. Ralph turns around and sees Josh in somewhat of a daze.

"Josh? You coming?"

Josh shakes his head with his smile now gone. He nods and follows Ralph.

"Yeah, let's go."

Ralph keeps a hard eye on Josh as the two enter _Sugar Rush._

_Sugar Rush…_

As the three enter _Sugar Rush_, they see Felix and Calhoun there as well. Felix sees.

"Howdy yall!"

"Felix." Ralph says

Josh comes out behind Ralph and Calhoun sees. Josh looks ahead and sees Vanellope getting into her kart. Josh walks over towards her as Calhoun watches. He kneels down next to the kart.

"This thing is really sweet, you know that?"

"Sweeter then jaw breakers?" Vanellope asks with a smile

"I was thinking lickerish but jaw breakers are sweet too."

Vanellope laughs. Josh looks around the kart and spots his necklace he gave to her long ago. It dangles from the steering wheel and Josh smiles.

"Now remember, if you place first, you win. Second place nowadays doesn't get you anywhere."

Vanellope rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I've won a lot in first place. I'll wave to you when you cross the finish line."

Josh smirks and walks back. He pulls out his staff and gets ready to slam it down. Josh throws it down ready to change into his _Sugar Rush _avatar and get his car nearby. But, nothing happens. Everyone looks at him, Vanellope looks back. Josh picks up his staff and stares at it.

"What the?"

"Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks over at Vanellope and nods.

"Hang on a second Vanellope."

Josh stares hard at his staff and throws it down again. Nothing happens, again. Josh does it again over and over again and Ralph, Felix and Calhoun just watch as Josh struggles turning into his different avatar.

"Come on! CHANGE!"

Josh throws down his staff so hard a huge explosion goes off and everyone covers. Dust is thrown everywhere and everyone tries to see where Josh is. Josh on the other hand, he's changed into his _Sugar Rush _avatar, but he doesn't look so hot. Josh holds his stomach really tight feeling something inside him. Inside him, from that scratch Cyrus gave him, his virus spreads out quicker then it normally is supposed to do. It attacks Josh's inside, quickly multiplying.

Josh breathes heavily as the dust settles. He sees a clear sight of Ralph, Calhoun and Felix. Josh wipes the sweat off his forehead and looks casual as the three finally see him.

"If you ever need a dust storm, you know who to call."

Calhoun shakes her head as Felix and Ralph laugh at Josh. Josh fixes his hat and pushes it down so he doesn't show how sick he looks. He hops in his car and Josh drives alongside Vanellope. The two racers look at each other and Vanellope revves her engine.

"You ready Gamer?"

Josh thumbs up Vanellope and she laughs. He holds the steering wheel tightly and looks at the road ahead. Josh's vision becomes blurry and he rubs his eyes.

"No, not now…not now."

The lights change color several times. RED, RED, RED, RED, and finally GREEN. Vanellope floors it and Josh looks. He misses his chance and steps on it.

"No!"

Vanellope speeds ahead of Josh as he struggles to concentrate on the road.

"Focus, focus Josh!"

Josh floors it and catches up to Vanellope. Vanellope looks to the side and sees Josh caught up. Josh looks to the side and waves to Vanellope.

"Hi Vanellope!', speeds ahead, 'Bye Vanellope!"

"HEY!"

Josh laughs and suddenly he twitches his left leg and slams onto the brakes.

"WHOA!"

Vanellope swerves and passes Josh. Josh quickly steps on it and shakes his leg.

"Not now! STOP!"

But inside Josh, the virus spreads even more. Josh's vision becomes worse and he slams his head into the steering wheel.

"Come! ON! SNAP! OUT! OF! IT!"

Josh's hat flies off and he quickly catches up to Vanellope. Vanellope looks back and sees Josh gaining.

"Oh no you don't!"

Vanellope hits a special box and makes her kart go faster. Josh sees and looks at his steering wheel.

"Oh no you don't sweety."

Josh hits the button to make his car go faster and he ZINGS off after Vanellope. Vanellope turns the last corner and sees the finish line. She sees it and jumps up and down on her seat.

"YES! I'm going to win this!"

Vanellope looks back and doesn't see Josh. She looks back up ahead and crosses the finish line. Ralph and Felix clap for Vanellope's success.

"All right kid!" Ralph yells

"Good job Vanellope." Felix says clapping

Vanellope backs up and stops near the three.

"Did you see that!? I won! I actually beat Josh! Ha, ha!"

"Where is he?" Calhoun asks

Vanellope looks down the track.

"I don't know. He was right behind me."

The three look down the empty track. Back with Josh, he turns the last corner and sees the four up ahead watching him.

"Almost there Josh."

Josh floors it and Vanellope jumps up and down.

"Come on Josh! Almost there!"

Josh floors it and suddenly, his vision becomes so blurry that it goes dark. He gasps and sees absolutely nothing.

_Wha?! What's happening?! I, I, I can't see!_

"_**Feel that Josh? Feel that sensation?"**_

Josh looks around and hears the talking, but no mouth going along with it. But he recognizes the voice.

"Cyrus?" Josh whispers

"_**You see anything Josh? Feel anything?', Josh just drives not being able to see anything, 'That's what it feels like. That's what you see when your under my control."**_

_I'm not under your control…_

"_**Oh really? How about now?"**_

__Suddenly out of nowhere, Josh swerves to the right and hits the guard rail really hard. The four see and flinch to see what Josh is doing. But it wasn't Josh who jerked the wheel; it was Cyrus who did it through his body. Josh tries to swerve right back in the middle of the road. But it's hard for him because he's losing feeling in his body.

"LET GO!"

"_**Sure thing."**_

__Cyrus lets go of Josh's body and Josh accidentally steps forward making the car go faster. Josh finally gains his eyesight back and sees he's a head on collision with his friends.

"LOOK OUT!"

Josh honks the horn and the four move out of the way just in time. Josh tries to hit the brakes but he can't move his leg.

"Now what?"

"_**On second thought…this should be interesting."**_

Josh sees Cyrus won't let him feel his feet. His right foot is still on the gas pedal and he won't move his left foot on the brake. Josh struggles and opens the car door.

"This is going to hurt!"

Josh throws his body out the car as his car still drives on and crashes off the road. The four watch as they see what Josh just did. They look at one another and run towards him. Josh on the other hand, he pushes himself up and breathes heavily. He stands up and sees he's got his feeling back in his legs.

"Oh, now I have feeling in my legs."

Josh stretches his legs out feeling the feeling back in them. He looks ahead and sees the four running towards him. Josh sighs and suddenly, Cyrus attacks again inside Josh's body.

"Uhh!"

Josh grabs hold of his stomach and feels Cyrus's virus just, GO all out through him. He feels this burning sensation throughout his whole body.

"Oh my God this hurts…"

The four get closer to Josh and he sees. He throws his arm up.

"Stay back!"

The four jump back seeing Josh drop down to his knees. He grunts hard and groans. Calhoun looks at everyone and approaches Josh slowly.

"Josh?"

"GET BACK!" Josh yells

Calhoun stands her ground and approaches Josh even closer.

"Josh. I'm coming over there."

Josh shakes and suddenly, he starts to smile. Then finally laughs. Calhoun notices.

"Josh?"

"_**Josh? Josh isn't here at the moment…"**_

__Josh raises his head and Calhoun sees his evil smile. Josh stands up and Calhoun just watches.

"Josh?"

Josh starts to laugh. But inside, Josh can't see anything and feels Cyrus controlling him through his body.

"_**Were going to have some fun."**_

Calhoun gets ready for whatever Josh is about to do. Josh throws out his staff and suddenly tries to hit Calhoun with it. She dodges it and kicks Josh back.

"_**Oooh! A lot quicker than I thought."**_

"What is the matter with you Josh?!" Calhoun yells

Cyrus makes Josh blink a few times. Each time he blinks, his eyes change into the color orange. Calhoun notices and Josh shakes his head.

"_**No more games…I'm only after one thing."**_

__Josh closes his eyes and suddenly, Josh starts to come back out. He screams at the top of his lungs as Calhoun backs up.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Josh grabs his head feeling something strange is happening to him. Calhoun backs up and everyone watches. Josh starts to glitch like crazy, even more than usual, abnormally than usual. He's trying to disappear but not return back into Game Central Station. Vanellope looks closer and suddenly sees everything around Josh slowly disappearing.

"Uhh, guys? What's going on?"

"Everyone get back!" Calhoun yells

The four back up far enough and watch as a tunnel wind around Josh forms. The virus in Josh's body make him slowly start to disappear. Josh looks at his hands and sees them turning over like he saw in his dream. He clenches his fists so hard that his veins change different colors. The wind gets stronger and suddenly, Josh is gone.

The four lower their hands and the dust settles around. Vanellope sees everything all quiet and runs at where Josh is at.

"Josh!"

"Vanellope!" Calhoun yells

Vanellope runs ahead and goes where Josh is, but…he's nowhere. He's no longer in _Sugar Rush._

"Josh? JOSH!"

Calhoun, Felix and Ralph come to the scene and see Josh nowhere.

"Where's Josh?" Felix asks

"He was right here." Ralph states

Vanellope looks around with a worried look on her face.

"That wasn't Josh." Calhoun says

Everyone looks over at Calhoun. Vanellope looks up.

"What are you talking about?" Vanellope

"Something was different about him. He wasn't talking the same."

"Huh?" Ralph asks

"Something is wrong with that video game he was talking to…what was his name? Cyrus?"

"You mean _Cyrus the Virus_?" Felix asks

"Yes. Cyrus scratched him. He didn't know it."

"You didn't tell him?" Vanellope asks

"I thought he knew."

"You didn't tell him!?"

Vanellope looks upset at Calhoun. Calhoun just looks down at Vanellope and at the spot where Josh is supposed to be.

Litwak Arcade…

Grunting, groaning noises are heard. Turns out, Josh is crawling on the floor towards the exit. He's really weak, struggling hard to stay awake. Josh reaches down and grabs his phone. As he throws it out, if slides a few feet in front of him.

"Uhhhh….!"

Josh crawls faster towards his phone and struggles for the buttons. Cyrus's virus continues to spread through Josh's body. He knows what Josh is doing and tries to stop him. Josh continues to struggle and finally reaches his phone. He dials 9-1-1 and someone picks up.

"_9-1-1 emergency what is your emergency?"_

Josh struggles to say something. Cyrus's virus inside Josh tries to keep him from speaking.

"Lit! LIT! LIT!"

"_Can you please speak louder into the receiver Sir? Again, what is your emergency?"_

Josh jumps forward and speaks down into his phone smashing it right up against his face.

"LITWAK ARCADE!"

Josh then finally passes out.

"_Sir? Sir? Can you hear me? Litwak Arcade Sir? Is that where you're at? Hello? I'll send units your way."_

Josh is completely out of it. With his eyes still open, his normal eye color suddenly changes from brown to orange slowly. Showing the virus inside Josh is slowly growing and only going to get worse.

End of Chapter 6

Preview of Chapter 7…

Josh wakes up a few days later inside the hospital. The Doctor and his parents are there. The Doctor explains that he was found on the floor of Litwak Arcade. They ran some scans and they found some type of virus in his body that they've never heard of. Josh can't exactly explain how the virus got into him, because they wouldn't believe him and in the state he's in, he doesn't need anyone else prying into his business. Josh needs a cure and fast before he turns into a husk of Cyrus. So Josh decides to visit Hero of _Cyrus the Virus _to finally get the idea of who he is and maybe he can help with Cyrus himself…at least he thinks he'll help. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 7 – A Hero and the Cure


	7. Chapter 7 - A Hero and the Cure

Chapter 7 – A Hero and the Cure

Josh continues to lie straight down on the floor. He doesn't move, he's hardly breathing. Outside, red and blue sirens are flashing and two police officers approach the door. One knocks on the glass door.

"Hello? Anyone in there? This is the police! We got a call from here."

One of the Officers look through the glass window and sees Josh lying on the floor.

"Hey!"

The other Officer looks and sees Josh's body on the ground. He waves over to the ambulance to come in.

"Hey! Get over here! We got someone here!"

The Medics of the ambulance get out their gurney and all of them barge in. The Medics pick up Josh and throw him on the gurney. They drag him to the ambulance and they take him to the Hospital.

The Hospital…

Josh is put through the works when he's sent into the Hospital. Several Doctors check him out and try to figure out what happened to him. One opens his eye lid and sees his eye color is orange. They take note of that. But as he lets go of his eye lid, they change back to brown. Josh is put into a room and is carefully set under observation.

Suddenly his parents enter the room and they are told to wait outside. One Doctor moves Josh's shirt and sees several strange scars on his body. They take note of that too. Josh is placed in his own room finally and his parents finally go to see him. They stand on each side of him just staring down at him. Josh continues to lye their motionless.

Throughout the night, Josh again has strange nightmares of Cyrus's world. As if he's seeing the world through Cyrus's eyes. How evil, treacherous and bad he is to the world that he lives in. As Josh continues to see these strange visions/dreams. He struggles more just feeling parts of his body slowly becoming less and less part of him.

A Few Days Later…

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak continue to wait around inside Josh's room. Josh continues to lie down motionless and finally his eyes begin to move. He softly moans and Mrs. Litwak takes notice of the noise.

"Josh?"

Mr. Litwak wakes up and walks to Josh.

"Josh, can you hear me?" Mr. Litwak asks

Josh's eyes slowly open up and he's just in a daze.

"Guys?" Josh whispers

"Josh!" Mrs. Litwak yells

Josh's eyes start to turn over finally seeing his parents.

"Mom? Dad?"

Mr. Litwak sighs in relief.

"Oh Josh, you gave me and your Mother heart attacks."

Josh blinks and looks around.

"Where am I?"

"Josh, do you not remember?" Mrs. Litwak asks

"Remember what?"

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak look at each other and see that their son is just lost in a daze.

"Josh', Josh looks up at his Father, 'The police came to our house and told us that you were found on the Arcade floor.', Josh slowly starts to remember what happened, 'We came as soon as we heard."

"Found on the floor?" Josh asks looking up

"Yes. The Medics said you barely had a pulse. And what's this I hear about you coming here before hand getting a checkup?"

Josh closes his eyes remembering the checkup he got that day.

"It was nothing."

"The Doctor told me you were having certain alike symptoms with other children. Blurred vision, abnormal twitches and loss of time?!"

Josh gulps.

"It's…It's not as bad as it looks."

"They said that you were on the verge of dying!"

Mrs. Litwak rolls his eyes.

"Sweety, they didn't say that."

Josh closes his eyes.

"Lying to your own son when he's in the Hospital…nice Dad."

Mr. Litwak starts to say something but suddenly the Doctor walks in.

"Good morning everyone. How is Josh?" Doctor asks walking further in

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak look over at the Doctor walking in.

"He just woke up now Doctor."

"He has? Let me see him."

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak move out of the Doctor's way and inspects Josh.

"Hello Josh. Last time I saw you, you were in for a minor checkup. Now I hear you have some type of 'fit' being rushed here from the Arcade. This is a big gap compared how worse you can get."

"If you're trying to make me feel better, you're not doing a good job."

"My bedside manner needs some work. I know. So tell me, what happened between the time you left me and the second you woke up."

Josh gulps thinking about what he did when he left the Doc. The Doctor, Mr. and Mrs. Litwak wait to hear a response from Josh. Josh looks around for an answer and the Doctor notices something.

"Wait, hold on a second."

"What?"

The Doctor inspects Josh's eyes and notices that there back to brown.

"That's funny."

The Doctor pulls up his notes and searches through them. Josh and his folks watch the Doctor and he finds something.

"Huh. This has to be a mistake."

"What's a mistake?" Mr. Litwak asks

"It says here, patient brought in has 'orange' eyes.', Looks at Josh, 'From what I'm seeing their brown like they should be."

"Well that's wrong. Josh's eyes are brown." Mrs. Litwak explains

"It's probably just a mistake I'll correct it. Now, tell me what happened after you left."

Josh sighs.

"I went to the Arcade. Told my Dad here he could leave, business wasn't exactly booming', looks at Mr. Litwak, 'Why aren't you at the Arcade Dad?"

"Josh. You're in the Hospital; the Arcade can wait a day. You're more important than a few games being played by a few kids."

"But the games aren't off are they?"

"I don't know, they…"

"You don't know?!', everyone flinches, 'They have to be kept on! Go there and make sure there still on!"

"Josh calm down!" Doctor says

"They have to be kept on! Go there!"

"Josh, if you don't calm down I'll have to sedate you."

Josh breathes heavily and lays back.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just had a rough night', waves hand, 'Mom, Dad. Can I please talk to the Doctor alone?"

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak look at each other and agree to the idea.

"Okay." Mr. Litwak says

"Will be right outside." Mrs. Litwak says

The Doctor pulls a chair alongside Josh's bed. Josh sits straight up and looks funny at the Doctor.

"Okay, were alone Josh. What is it that you want to tell me in private?"

Josh sighs.

"Doc…what if I told you something that would sound completely insane and impossible. And no other person on this Earth would have ever figured out?"

"I would have to ask what it is."

"What if I told you that it sounded completely nuts that it would only make my certain situation worse when I tell you its completely true?"

"It all depends on what you truly believe in."

Josh looks around.

"I discovered something two years ago when I was in my families Arcade Doc. I still don't understand how it's possible but those marks on the back of my head are where they come from."

"What is it Josh?"

Josh gulps.

"Just between you and me, this won't get spread out for me to be thrown in a psych ward?"

"Josh, just spit it out already."

Josh takes a deep breath.

"I can…upload my subconscious via through an exposed wire to the back of my head and send it to a mainframe of a computer or game console."

The Doctor just sits there lost and confused. Josh just lays there wondering if he explained the idea right.

"Say that again."

Josh sighs and rolls his eyes.

"You have any kids?"

"I have a son."

"Does he play video games?"

"He's got a XBOX."

"Okay…', gulps, 'The video game character he can play as, is more alive than you think."

"I'm sorry, I still don't follow."

"Doc, there alive. The video game characters inside my families Arcade. They are alive when no one is playing them. They live like we do."

"Uh-huh…"

"Understand?"

"Yes. Yes I do Josh. Here's my response to this Josh. Instead of a psych ward, a mental hospital is better suited for you."

"Doc."

"If you continue this line of thought Josh, I will have no choice but to report it. Truth or not, it's crazy."

Josh sighs.

"See? I knew you would say that."

The Doctor sighs.

"When you were asleep I did that brain scan on you.', Josh turns back at the Doctor, 'I saw some abnormal currents of neurons inside your head to your brain. Your E.E.G. was off the charts."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There, There off the charts. I've been studying how the brain works for a long time now and I have never seen anyone's brain under this much current in my life. With this kind of voltage, I'm surprised you can't pick up a light bulb and light it."

"You're losing me Doc."

The Doctor grabs a piece of paper and draws out a brain.

"Okay, this is a brain', shows image and Josh looks and listens, 'Inside we have different parts that do different things."

"I know that much from science class; get to the point of the E.E.G."

"All right then,', draws more images inside the brain, 'The neurons inside a brain send out electric currents to different parts of the brain telling what it what to do. For example, I am telling my brain to move my fingers around like so. See?', Josh watches as the Doctor demonstrates, 'Here, let me show you a normal persons E.E.G."

The Doctor slides back in his chair and grabs a file. He slides back to Josh and shows him a normal persons E.E.G. waves.

"This is a normal E.E.G. off of anyone. See how calm and wide spread they are."

Josh just blinks looking at the image.

"You keep saying 'normal'."

The Doctor sighs.

"This is your E.E.G. Josh."

The Doctor slides the E.E.G. paper in front of Josh and Josh; he just stares at it with a blank stare. His E.E.G. shows massive lines going up and down and are really close together.

"This is mine?"

"Yes."

"This is MINE?"

"Yes. Care to explain or shall I just assume."

"I already told you what I do, let's hear it."

"Do you intentionally shock yourself Josh?"

Josh blinks knowing that when he places the back of his head on the exposed wire, there is an intentional shock.

"If I say no, will you believe me?"

"What you're doing to yourself Josh, is almost killing you."

"I've done it plenty of times Doc, nothing has happened before like this."

"Well maybe it's finally taking its toll. Your brain can't handle the effects of it no more."

"It's got to be something else."

"I also did a blood test."

Josh nods with a smirk.

"Of course you did. Let me guess I'm getting good at this, not 'normal' right?"

"Correct Josh."

Josh sighs.

"What is it now?"

"It's…not normal.', Josh shakes his head, 'It's like something, is growing inside you Josh. I don't know what it is but…I think it's somehow connected to the children you saw."

Josh turns his head back at the Doctor.

"The children?"

The Doctor takes off his glasses and wipes his eyes.

"We all took blood samples from them. And they all have it. It's the strangest growth that I've ever seen before. And it's…impossible that every child out there has the same exact growth."

"What about my blood?"

The Doctor sighs.

"I don't know Josh, but I believe that you somehow sped up the process.', Josh just blinks quickly, 'Right now, I believe the children are in a Stage One process. Your blood is different but it's the same exact thing. You seem to be in a Stage Two process."

Josh gulps.

"Can you figure out if there's a Stage Three?"

The Doctor shrugs.

"I'm…not so sure. The thing about unknown viruses that they can do a number of different things to you. And this certain one, it's like its feeding on the person, making them feel less and less of themselves."

Josh slowly looks away.

"I feel like I'm slowly losing a part of myself."

The Doctor looks back up at Josh.

"Excuse me?"

"Before I collapsed on the floor…I felt like my entire body was slowly being…taken over."

"Taken over? You make it sound like someone did this to you."

"Someone has I believe. And the children. I know who did this to him."

"Who?" The Doctor asks narrowing his eyes

Josh looks serious.

"His name is Cyrus. All those kids…they've been to the Arcade. Litwak's. They've all played the game. And I know it."

"Is Cyrus…a video game character?"

"Doc. Listen to what I'm saying."

"You keep talking like this I'll get a nurse."

"They all have marks on their hands right?"

The Doctor thinks for a moment and recalls that all the children had marks on their right hands.

"Now that you mention it, they all did have marks on their hands."

"See? Now do you believe me?"

"I believe in science not complete nonsense."

"How else do you explain it? Look', shows hand, 'I have no mark on my hand because I wasn't struck by that damn video game. Cyrus himself must have infected me."

"Right, when you were inside the game console, is that it?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"It's called Game Central Station."

The Doctor gets up.

"I'm going to pretend that this conversation didn't happen."

Josh watches as the Doctor walks to the door.

"I know somewhere in that head of yours Doc, you believe me.', The Doctor stops and turns around, 'How else do you explain it?"

The Doctor stands there and fixes his glasses.

"Here's my medical advice to you Mr. Litwak. If you don't stop shocking yourself on purpose like you do, you're not going to think straight like you are.', Josh rolls his eyes, 'A person with a clear mind can think farther ahead than anyone."

Josh gulps.

"And if I don't stop?"

"Then you won't be able to fight this." The Doctor says leaving

Josh sits there and thinks about what the Doctor just said.

Later…

Outside Josh's Apartment…

Mr. and Mrs. Litwak drive Josh to his Apartment. Josh makes them stop a block away from his real home so they don't see where he's living. Mr. Litwak looks around.

"Nice Apartments here Josh." Mr. Litwak says

"Uh, thanks. They…run pretty cheap."

"Which one's yours?" Mrs. Litwak asks

"Uhh, it's the top floor."

"Do you need help, will help you get in?" Mr. Litwak asks

"Uhh, that's okay. Driving me home is good enough guys. Thanks."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Litwak asks

"I'm sure Mom. Besides, my place is a mess."

"Okay." Mrs. Litwak states

"You'll call us if anything happens?" Mr. Litwak asks

"Sure. Are you going back to the Arcade?"

Mr. Litwak sighs.

"I don't know Josh. It's already passed three. Besides I don't feel like it."

"Oh come on Dad…"

"Josh don't start this again. A couple days off isn't going to be the end of things."

Josh smirks.

"Says so from the guy who closed it down for a week. Remember that?"

Mr. Litwak shakes his head and Josh gets out of the car. Josh pretends to walk to the Apartments by him and watches his parents leave. He waves and finally walks to his real home, the closed down Factory.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh rides up the elevator leaning up against the back wall. He hears the sound of the elevator going up with his eyes closed. Josh looks down at his hands and sighs really hard. The elevator stops and Josh enters his Apartment. And the first thing he does is plug in E.D.I. to his Apartment.

"E.D.I.? E.D.I. Can you hear me?"

It takes E.D.I. to boot up for a second and finally she does.

"Yes Josh?"

"The day I went into Game Central Station, did I come to you to get out?"

"No."

Josh narrows his eyes and walks around in circles.

"So how did I…get out if I didn't go through the hard drive?"

"I was wondering that myself."

"So you do know?"

"I keep all records of you coming and going into the Arcade. You did not pass through into the Hard Drive to leave."

Josh rubs his head.

"How…How is that possible? I couldn't just get out if I was stuck in the game, I would have to get out through the hard drive. It felt like I was being squeezed through a tube of toothpaste."

"I'm sorry; I do not understand the metaphor."

"E.D.I., it felt like my body was being sucked through by a force so I can get out of the game. IT hurt like hell."

"Was there anything else?"

Josh thinks for a moment and rubs his eyes.

"I don't know…it's so hard to remember."

Josh thinks about what had happened for a second. Then he remembers what Cyrus did to him and what made him speak when it wasn't him. Then he connects what the Doctor said about his blood sample.

"E.D.I., I need you to run a scan."

"Scanning on what?"

"My body. Do it now."

"Very well."

Josh stands still as a blue light shoots out above the plasma screen and points directly as his head. It moves down and goes all the way down to his feet. E.D.I. then sends the light back up to Josh's head and completes the scan.

"I have found something."

"Good. I knew 'normal' doctors wouldn't be able to pick up what you can find E.D.I."

E.D.I. switches on the flat screen and shows a diagram of Josh's body.

"According to my scans, I have detected a substance spreading out through your body."

Josh looks serious.

"Cyrus's virus."

"Precisely. According to my scan it is evolving quickly throughout your body. At the rate it's going, it will completely be all out through you in…', E.D.I. shows up a time card of how long Josh has before the virus is completely through Josh's body, '124 hours, 52 minutes and 35 seconds."

"You got it down to the EXACT second. Nice E.D.I."

"But I believe you would have more time then you have now."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"How would I have more time?"

"According to my scans, before you entered Game Central Station, it seems that you 'bumped' up the process speed of the virus to progress."

Josh thinks for a second.

"So you're saying when I entered Game Central Station that time when I was talking to you but I can't remember it, I basically boosted the virus's spread?"

"Precisely."

"How is that possible?"

"When you 'exit' your body the virus in you spreads faster than when you're in your body right now. It will take time to complete so I recommend avoiding from jumping into Game Central Station."

Josh sighs really hard.

"I can't just stand around and wait 124 hours to let Cyrus's virus upload into me. I'm barely making it enough already. I can just feel Cyrus in me."

"Then what will you do?"

Josh bites his lip.

"I have to go back into Game Central Station. Find Hero from _Cyrus the Virus. _He's got to have something that makes him, I hope, immune to the virus."

"What makes you think he's immune to the virus?"

"He gets killed every time by Cyrus's husks. They carry his virus. I watch Hero get the crap killed out of him and then the new game starts. So he's got to be immune."

"I have calculated that the chances of that possibility are only 23% positive."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Great. If I'm wrong I'll end up speeding up the process of the virus."

"Exactly."

"E.D.I., if I go into Game Central Station, how long will I have if I go in?"

"Calculating.', E.D.I. calculates the precise time Josh has if he goes into Game Central Station and the virus will proceed even faster, 'According to my calculation. If you go into Game Central Station. The Virus will have uploaded 95% of your body."

Josh sighs really hard.

"Oh, GREAT! How long will I have."

"Mere hours."

Josh rubs his face.

"What's the percentage of the virus in me right now?"

"42%"

"42% to 95%. Mmm! Love those numbers."

Josh turns around and walks away. E.D.I. takes notice.

"Where are you going Josh?"

Josh stops at the elevator and looks back.

"To the Arcade. I need to find Hero or I'm finished either way."

Josh lifts the elevator doors and moves on.

Litwak Arcade…

It's night, and Josh walks up to the front doors of the Arcade. Josh sees that it's closed and stands at the front doors. He picks the locks and sneaks right in. Since he's alone and no one's around, Josh pulls out the exposed cord and plugs it directly to Game Central Station. As Josh plugs it in, he grabs his eyes and holds them hard. He feels a somewhat painful, burning sensation from them. Josh ignores the pain and plugs the cord in. Without Josh's knowing, his eyes slowly start to change color to orange. Josh spins around and puts his head over the exposed wire. He takes a deep breath and puts his head down. Josh gets sucked into Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

Josh arrives and pushes himself up. He looks around and walks down the entrance of the tunnel of the exposed wire. Josh pulls out his staff and finally uses it as a cane like how it looks like. He looks out the entrance and tries to keep a low profile. Josh hides his face so no one recognizes him. As Josh walks out around Game Central Station, he can just feel the virus spreading out even more through his body even quicker.

_E.D.I. was right…I can just feel it growing more and more in me. I have to find Hero and fast. God I hope he's immune to it or something. Well, fingers crossed._

As Josh makes his way to the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus, _he comes across _Tapper's _and limps his way towards it. As Josh breathes slowly trying to keep his composure, suddenly Vanellope, Ralph, and Calhoun walk out with Vanellope leading them out. Josh pauses and remains absolutely still.

"Still nothing?" Vanellope asks

"I haven't seen him kid. I'm pretty sure he's alright." Ralph explains

"You said that last time. I've never seen him do that before. It's weird."

"Me too kid."

Calhoun looks to the side and sees Josh. She pauses and Josh sees Calhoun looking at him. Calhoun looks at Vanellope and back at Josh. Josh shakes his head and puts a finger to his lip hiding the fact that he's there. Calhoun nods and quickly pushes Vanellope ahead.

"Come on Vanellope, let's move now."

"Whoa, Calhoun, what's the rush?"

"More then you want to know."

Josh watches as Calhoun gets Vanellope far and away from him. He looks ahead and goes onto the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus. _As Josh walks to the entrance to _Cyrus the Virus_, he sees that fungus growing all around the entrance. Josh takes a big gulp just wondering if he's got enough energy to just even fly over it. He gets ready for takeoff and floats several feet, but ends up hitting the ground again.

"Oh come on…"

Josh tries it again and the same results happen. He can't fly with the virus in him, so Josh goes on through the fungus.

"Since I'm already infected, what's the difference now?" Josh says climbing over and around the orange fungus

Josh finally makes it across the tunnel and to the cords entrance to the game. He jumps down and wipes the fungus off.

"Ahh…God…this is so disgusting."

Josh wipes his arms off from remaining fungus growth. He sighs hard and shakes his head.

"Now, got to find Hero."

As Josh takes a step forward, soft laughing is heard and he stops. Josh narrows his eyes and looks to the side, and finds Hero, just leaning up against the wall sitting on the ground.

"Hero?"

Hero continues to chuckle to himself and looks like a bum begging for change. Josh slowly approaches him and sees him in somewhat of a daze.

"Hero?" Josh asks calling for

"Hmm?"

Hero looks around and finally spots Josh.

"Ha, ha…who are you?"

"Are you Hero?"

"Ha…who's asking?"

"Josh Litwak."

Hero looks around squinting his eyes.

"Josh Litwak? Josh Litwak…that name sounds oddly familiar. Nope. Sorry, don't know you."

"How about Ga…ah!"

Josh grabs his chest and feels the virus growing inside him. Hero looks back at Josh and sees what Josh is going through. He knows he's infected.

"You okay there 'Josh'?"

"I've…been better."

Hero chuckles.

"Let me take a guess…your infected right?"

Josh looks back up at Hero and he waits for an answer.

"Does it show?"

"No not yet anyway. Ha, ha…you're a long way off from looking like a husk of Cyrus's things that's for sure."

"Well, matter of fact I was hoping I could talk to you about that."

Hero looks back over at Josh and sees him struggling really hard with the virus.

"When did you get infected?"

Josh thinks for a moment trying to keep his strength up.

"Umm…it was…a few days ago. Cyrus scratched me."

"Cyrus himself scratched you?"

"Yeah, why do you want to know?"

"Cyrus's virus is usually spread through contact by one of his husks. He himself infected you; I'm surprised you're still alive."

"Why's that?"

"Because even I haven't even been that close to him. Ever since this whole damn thing started."

"What are you going on about?"

Hero just laughs hysterically and Josh backs up.

"Do you have any idea what it's like in there?!" Hero yells pointing at the cord to the game

Josh looks at what Hero is pointing at and looks back at Hero.

"I have a feeling…"

"You have no idea what it's like in there! All the time! OVER AND OVER AGAIN! Die restart, die restart, die restart, die and fricken restart!"

Josh slowly backs up as Hero follows him. He raises his hand.

"Calm down."

"I can't do this anymore! There's no winning! You can't beat Cyrus!"

"Hero, calm down!"

"I will not go back in there! Not for another second!"

"Hero! Calm….uuhhh!"

Josh holds his stomach and feels the virus growing even stronger. Hero looks down as Josh drops to his knees holding his stomach tightly. Hero shakes his head and sees Josh is suffering.

"Sucks to be infected…huh?"

Josh breathes heavily.

"It feels…terrible." Josh says struggling

Hero wipes his eyes and sighs.

"All right then."

Josh gulps and slowly looks up.

"All right then?"

Suddenly Hero picks up Josh and throws him up against the wall. Josh tries to fight back and throws out his staff at Hero, but he tosses it to the side.

"Just hold on."

"Let go of me!"

"You'll thank me in a minute."

"What are you?"

Suddenly Hero starts to light up and shoot out lightning bolts around him. Josh just watches as the electricity shoots up around Hero's arm and into Josh. He feels the electricity shooting around and into his body. It hurts at first but slowly, Hero's current from his body is slowly destroying the virus inside Josh's body. Josh continues to struggle to break free from Hero but he continues to hold Josh up against the wall. He looks to the side and for some reason sees the lights in Game Central Station getting very bright. Some game characters notice what's going on and wonder.

Josh looks back at Hero who continues to hold him with his eyes shut almost finishes erasing the virus from Josh's body. Hero gets every piece of the virus from out of Josh and finally let's go. Josh falls down and gasps for air. He coughs wondering to what just happened. Hero turns around and holds his right hand tightly holding something inside it. Josh looks up at Hero and suddenly he throws up ash that slowly disappears into the air. Josh just blinks as he watches Hero sit back down on his butt and stares straight up.

"What…what did you just do to me?"

Hero turns around and narrows his eyes.

"I took it away…just like you wanted right?"

Josh shakes his head.

"How…How you could possible know what I wanted?"

"I could sense it from you. Besides seeing how infected you were, when I was curing you I saw your mind."

"You could do that?"

"You'd be surprised what else I can do." Hero explains turning back around

Josh slowly stands up and feels himself. He doesn't feel like he's in pain anymore, all parts of his body are now under his control. No blurred vision, no twitches, nothing. Hero took the virus away and out of Josh's body.

"Hero…', Josh walks out and in front of Hero, he looks up and Josh just looks down at him, 'If you saw what I wanted, then you know what else I want from you."

"No. Absolutely not." Hero says shaking his head

"Just let me explain."

"NO! I'm not going back in there. I'm sick and tired of the same old shit happening to me every single time."

"Die restart, die restart?"

"Exactly! How did you know?"

"You told me."

"I did? When?"

"Hero, what is wrong with you? You said that right before you cured me."

Hero shakes his head. He feels it and looks at his hands.

"Who am I?"

"For real?"

Josh turns around and walks away.

"Going with the 'I don't know you and don't know your own self' routine. You're a complete mess Hero."

"Hero?"

"That's your name supposedly."

"Who are you again?"

Josh turns around and looks serious at Hero.

"Josh, LITWAK. You just cured me of Cyrus's virus!"

"Cyrus's…virus?"

Josh sighs really hard. Hero shakes his head and looks back up at Josh.

"I'm not going back!"

Josh throws his hands at Hero and walks away.

"This is getting me nowhere!"

Hero slowly stands up and points at Josh.

"You go! You go in Josh!"

Josh turns around with a lost look on his face.

"Excuse me?"

"Take my powers. You can defeat Cyrus." Hero explains walking to Josh

Josh backs up away from Hero as he follows him.

"Get the hell away from you lunatic." Josh says backing up

"I, I saw what you have done…you can do it! You can beat Cyrus!"

"With what? My good looks?!"

Running starts happening between the two boys. Hero chases Josh all over the place. Hero looks down and picks up Josh's staff. He throws it at Josh and trips him. Hero quickly gets back up and throws down the staff at Josh.

"CATCH!" Hero yells

Josh looks up and sees Hero is about to hit him with his own staff.

"AH! HEY!"

Right before it hits Josh, Josh manages to catch it as the two boys struggle between each other.

"Take my power….defeat Cyrus!"

"Knock it off! You're insane!"

"Take my powers! Defeat the Five!"

"WHO!?"

Suddenly Hero's abilities start shooting out of him and through into Josh from his staff. Josh yells and so does Hero as he feels himself slowly being erased. Hero holds on for another few seconds and finally let's go transferring all his powers into Josh. Josh on the other hand gets uploaded into his body with Hero's powers. He breathes heavily and finally catches his breath.

"What did…what did you just do to me now?"

Hero falls backwards slowly being erased. Josh narrows his eyes and looks up.

"Hero? Hero!"

Josh looks and sees Hero completely gone. He pushes himself up with his staff and looks down at where Hero just was.

"What was that all about?"

Josh pats himself and for some reason feels really funny. He shakes his head and gets the blurry vision back.

"Oh no', Josh rubs his eyes, 'Not again…"

Josh walks out of the cord entrance to the game and out of the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus._ But as he does, he finally gets his full strength back and flies out of the entrance and into Game Central Station. He looks around and back at the entrance seeing the growth and wonders what just happened to Hero.

"What did you do to me Hero?"

As Josh walks back to the ripped power cord entrance, he passes up several game characters. But when he gets close to them they start to short out like their glitching for some unknown reason. Josh doesn't take notice of it and quickly runs into ripped power cord entrance and leaves.

Litwak's Arcade…

The blue light from the cord flies down and straight to Josh's head. It hits the back of his head and Josh doesn't exactly wake up right away. A moment passes by and suddenly the power from the Arcade starts to short out, lights flickering back on and off. They finally stop and Josh finally wakes up.

"Uhhhh…."

Josh pushes himself up and rubs his head.

"Something…something is definitely different…', gets up, 'I need to get home…like NOW."

As Josh walks past all the Arcade games, they flicker, short out as Josh passes them. Josh makes it outside and sees that his bike his still there.

"Oh boy am I glad I left this here…"

Josh sighs and hops on. But as he gets on and puts his hands on the handle bars, the bike just automatically starts up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Josh sees his bike is turned on. He reaches down and grabs the ignition key. Josh stares at the key and the bike seeing that he didn't even put it in to start it. He gulps and puts it in anyway.

"Tomorrow…I'll have that looked at."

Josh backs up and rides home. As Josh rides home on the dark night street, the street lights that are on. As soon as Josh passes them by, they all flicker directly behind Josh as he passes them.

End of Chapter 7…

Preview of Chapter 8…

Waking up the following morning, Josh is feeling somewhat… 'shocky'. He revisits the Doctor and he himself is more lost then Josh of his quick recovery. Trying to run another test on him, Josh nearly blows up half the Hospital. Josh soon discovers that Hero gave him his electrical powers to fight Cyrus. So that's exactly what Josh does, heading back to Game Central Station. Stronger then he has ever been before. Josh and Cyrus go toe to toe against each other. And when Cyrus is nearly at his end, he has a new surprise to Josh and his friends. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 8 – Goodbye Cyrus, Hello Reality


	8. Chapter 8 - Goodbye Cyrus, Hello Reality

(I apologize that I haven't updated in over a week, this chapter was really hard to write, and it took me countless retries to get it right. I know its long, but there's a reason why. I haven't given up on Cyrus the Virus. Believe me reader, I started this, I'm going to finish it. Enjoy. Again, I'm sorry for the wait)

Chapter 8 – Goodbye Cyrus, Hello Reality

Josh's Apartment…

Morning has come. Josh is sound asleep like a little baby on his bed, lying straight down. He digs his head into his pillows and snores a little. Josh rolls over and gets more relaxed while he's still sound asleep. He sighs in his sleep and slowly starts to wake up. As Josh opens his eyes up, his dark brown eyes change color to bright blue color eyes. Josh yawns and scratches his head.

"Ooooh boy…what a night…', stretches arms out far, 'Haven't slept this good in a long time."

Josh throws his legs over the bed and sits over the side. He sighs and looks up.

"E.D.I.? E.D.I.? You there?"

It takes a second for E.D.I. to respond.

"Yes Josh?"

"What time is it?"

"It's 12:32 p.m."

Josh looks completely surprised to the fact that it's already noon.

"12:32? Man I slept in…what time did I come home last night?"

"You came home at 12:56 a.m."

"I slept for twelve hours…', whistles, 'feels longer.', Josh yawns and realizes something, 'Wait, E.D.I., didn't I ask you to wake me up?"

"No you did not Josh. You came right home and walked right into your room. You collapsed right on your bed."

Josh shakes his head.

"I collapsed?"

"You fell right on your bed and didn't respond when I was talking to you."

Josh rubs his head.

"I don't even remember that. The last thing I remember was riding on my bike coming home."

"More loss of time?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No E.D.I. No. I don't feel…', feels chest, 'I don't feel it no more. It's strange…"

"According to our last talk, I stated that if you entered Game Central Station the virus would exceed to a high level."

Josh slowly stands up.

"That you did E.D.I."

"But I can clearly see you are perfectly all right and not infected no more."

Josh sort of smiles.

"That you are correct E.D.I."

Josh walks out of his Bedroom and into the main room.

Josh's Apartment…

Living Room…

"So I take it that the mission was a success?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Mission? What mission?"

"Were you able to find Hero?"

Josh suddenly remembers the conversation he had with Hero. He remembers what he did to him and what he did after.

"Oh my God…he…he cured me."

"Hero?"

Looks up at E.D.I.

"Yes! E.D.I…scan my body', E.D.I. prepares the machine, 'See if you can find any of the virus in me."

"One moment please. Scanning.', E.D.I. scans Josh's body and he waits for answer, Josh looks a little impatient waiting for a response, E.D.I. finishes the scan and shows a diagram of Josh's body on the screen, 'I have detected no trace of the virus inside your body Josh."

Josh looks completely happy and brushes back his hair.

"It worked. It worked! Yes! No wonder I feel so good."

"But I detected something else inside you."

Josh doesn't pay attention to what E.D.I. is telling him. He walks to the counter of the Kitchen and puts on his coat. E.D.I. takes notice.

"Where are you going Josh?"

"The Hospital. My Doctor is going to want to see this."

"But Josh, I have detected something else inside you."

Josh stops at the elevator and looks back.

"What? What else have you detected?"

"For some reason, I have picked up a large quantity of power in you."

"Power? What kind of power?"

"A strong current of power."

"Can you give me an exact answer?"

"I don't know, I can try. But when I do so, something is blocking my scans to get an exact answer from you."

Josh shakes his head.

"Well work out something, I need an exact answer E.D.I."

"I'll do what I can."

Josh nods and boards the elevator.

Down in the Garage…

Josh hops on his bike and again, it turns on automatically. He stares down at it and narrows his.

"I remember this…"

Josh guides his hands over the gauges and suddenly the lights shoot on when he places his fingers over the light switch.

"Huh?"

Josh moves his finger closer to the switch and suddenly one of the lights on the bike explodes.

"WHOA!"

Josh throws his hand back seeing what just happened. He breathes heavily looking at his hand.

"While I'm at the Hospital I'll get a cat scan as well."

Josh spins the bike around in a 180 degree turn and heads right at the gate. As Josh drives right towards it, it shoots up even faster than it normally does. Josh leaves looking back wondering why certain strange things are happening faster and different they usually are. Josh heads directly to the Hospital.

The Hospital…

Josh walks in the Hospital and sees the entire waiting room is full of numerous children with the same like symptoms. He narrows his eyes seeing all the children sick with the virus. But as Josh looks at them all, his eyes begin to hurt. Josh rubs them and looks back at the children, his face completely drops. Josh looks at the children, but he gets a clear vision of seeing inside them. He can see the virus growing inside each and every one of them.

"Oh my God…" Josh says covering his mouth

The virus is growing inside them, but it's at very early stages. The orange-ness is only in little bits of them.

"This is a nightmare…"

"Josh?" Doctor asks

Josh turns around and sees his Doctor.

"Doc. I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm not surprised your back here', Josh rolls his eyes, 'Something wrong?"

Josh looks around.

"What isn't wrong around here?"

The Doctor sighs.

"I don't know, this whole thing is just getting worse inside these kids."

Josh looks back at them.

"I know what they're going through."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

Josh takes a deep breath. As Josh turns the Doctor notices Josh's eyes have changed color again.

"Do you wear contacts or something?"

Josh shakes his head narrowing his eyes.

"No."

"Well, what the hell are your eyes changing color every time I see you. One minute their orange and the next their light blue. Make up your mind."

"My eye color is dark brown. It always has been."

"You sure? Take a look."

The Doctor points to a mirror and Josh walks towards it. Josh goes to it and sees his eyes are now in shade of light blue.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Josh looks at them directly and sees them that they have changed again.

"How?" Josh whispers

"Josh you are a strange young man."

Josh smirks.

"Like I haven't heard that one before."

"Is there something you need, I have a lot of work to do."

Josh walks back to the Doctor.

"I need to talk to you, in private."

The Doctor leads Josh to his Office and the two men go there.

Inside the Doctor's Office…

"You're what?"

Josh shrugs.

"It's gone. I don't have it no more."

"That's, That's impossible."

"Impossible yes, just look at me."

"I will admit you do look better, let alone your eyes have changed color again."

"That's the only thing I don't understand but Doc, seriously. I'm cured."

"You can't be. The medical practice behind it is impossible."

"Again, if impossible, how am I standing before you all cured?"

The Doctor sighs and gets up.

"Lift up your sleeve. I'm taking a blood sample and seeing for myself."

Josh gulps.

"Blood sample? You going to stick me with a needle?"

"That's how it usually works."

"Oh no. Forget it. I hate needles."

"It won't hurt, it will be a pinch."

"I don't care, I can't do it."

"I was able to get it from you last time."

"I was unconscious!"

"Shall I get a nurse to keep you down?"

Josh gulps and slowly starts to sweat. He sighs hard and rolls up his sleeve.

"Don't, don't show me the needle."

"Common reaction of fear of needles."

"Is it over with?"

"I haven't even got the syringe."

"Get it quick before I change my mind!"

The Doctor gets the syringe and starts to take the blood sample. He touches Josh and he feels it. Josh prepares for it. The Doctor sticks Josh with the needle and he jerks, but as the Doctor gets his blood, Josh isn't aware of it but the Doctor feels a slight jolt.

"Huh, that's weird…"

Josh shakes his head nervously with his eyes still closed.

"What? What is it now?"

"I feel something strange on your skin."

"Is that a good thing?"

"With you Josh, I'm not so sure."

Josh sighs drastically and keeps looking away.

"Almost done?"

"Almost."

"Hurry up, this is taking too long."

"Almost."

Josh starts to become even more stressed. His hands begin to shake and the Doctor pulls out the needle.

"All done."

Josh stands up.

"Thank God!"

Suddenly a light fixture erupts. Josh and the Doctor jump and look at the light bulb that exploded. Josh slowly looks back at the Doctor and he looks up.

"Okay…"

The Doctor stands up and walks back to his computer. Josh wipes the sweat off his face and sits back down. The Doctor examines Josh's blood sample and clearly sees it different then the blood sample he took before when he was infected.

"If I keep seeing things like this I'm slowly to start taking medication again."

"Do you believe me now?"

"Hold on, one second."

The Doctor pours the blood sample on a glass shard and sticks it under the microscope. Josh waits as the Doctor examines Josh's blood. He looks in another microscope of Josh's old blood sample and sees them completely different.

"This…this is unbelievable."

"I'm glad you didn't use the word 'impossible'."

As the Doctor looks closer at Josh's new blood sample. He inspects the blood cells and sees strange shock bolts sticking to them. The Doctor slowly backs up and takes off his glasses.

"I…I don't even know where to begin."

"Can you give me another E.E.G.?"

The Doctor turns around and puts his glasses back on.

"You want one?"

"Not only do I feel better…I also feel different."

"Different how?"

Josh shrugs.

"I can't explain it. Maybe a quick brain scan will help me out."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Come here."

Josh walks to the small E.E.G. machine.

"Is this what you used on me last time?"

"No, the E.E.G. machine we used was a lot bigger. This is just a more portable one."

"I see."

The Doctor gets a funny looking hat and connects it to Josh's head. Josh feels it and sees the numerous wires all around his head.

"This thing looks funny."

"Don't touch any of the wires', Josh stops and puts his hands down, 'These wires unlike you said won't intentionally shock you."

Josh makes a face at the Doctor and he turns on the machine.

"All right…let's see your waves Josh."

Josh crosses his arms and as the Doctor turns on the machine, he sees the waves emitting off of Josh's head just going crazy.

"What the HELL is this!?"

"What?"

"What are you doing?!"

"I'm not doing anything."

"Your brain is! It's off the charts!"

Josh feels the hat on his head and suddenly instead of picking up his brain waves to the machine, the machine shoots electricity right at Josh and he engulfs it through his mind. The Doctor jumps backwards seeing what Josh is doing. The E.E.G. machine explodes and Josh shakes his head. The Doctor slowly approaches Josh as he takes off his hat. All Josh does is brush his hair back.

"What a ride. Shocking though."

Josh stands up and sees the Doctor just staring at him.

"What?"

The Doctor points at him.

"You, you need to come with me."

Josh narrows his eyes as the Doctor gets another syringe planning to sedate him.

"Uhh, Doc? What's the needle for?"

The Doctor prepares it and walks to Josh slowly.

"As a universe full of science Josh, you're quite the subject."

Josh puts his hands up keeping the Doctor away from him.

"Doc…don't come near me with that needle."

"Mr. Litwak, please calm down."

"I am CALM."

"Mr. Litwak."

The Doctor attacks Josh and Josh defends himself. The two struggle as the Doctor tries to stick Josh with the needle.

"Please bear with me on this."

"Bear on it with yourself!"

As Josh gets more and more serious, he grabs both of the Doctors hands and suddenly inside him he gets shocked to death. The Doctor twitches like crazy and Josh just watches. He lets go of the Doctor and he falls backwards. The needle flies in the air and hits the Doctors arm injecting him.

"Whooops."

Josh slowly raises his hands and looks at them.

"What did I just do? Doc? You okay?

Josh taps him and sees him in a sleeping state even though his eyes are open. He gets closer and checks his pulse, but as Josh does, he gets a clear vision of seeing the Doc's heart still beating. Josh shakes his head and rubs his eyes.

"Okay…now I'm seeing people's heart beats…at least your alive…Sorry Doc…"

Outside the Doctor's Office…

Josh pokes his head out and sees no one around the Office. He walks out acting casual. Suddenly a Nurse walks up behind Josh.

"Excuse me?"

Josh jumps and remains calm. He slowly turns around looking oddly funny.

"Y-Yes?"

"Are you finished with the Doctor?"

Josh nods nervously.

"Uh-Uh yes. Just finished."

"Is he alone? I need to see him."

"NO!', the Nurse jumps, Josh calms down, 'Uh, he said he wanted to be left alone. He said he was going to take a nap."

"Oh. Did he say that?"

Josh rubs his head.

"Well he got the point across."

"Okay. Thank you very much."

Josh nods and the Nurse walks away. He sighs in relief and quickly leaves the Hospital. As he walks through the parking lot, Josh approaches his bike very slowly. He looks down at his hands and hops on his bike. And right away his bike automatically starts on. Josh shrugs and leans forward.

"I'll let that side."

Josh rides off and goes directly home.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh lifts up the doors of the elevator and walks in.

"Welcome back Josh. How was the visit to the Doctor?"

Josh walks further in and brushes his hair back.

"Which part? Before or after I left?"

"The whole story would be nice to hear."

Josh smirks and looks funny up at E.D.I.

"Well, let me start off by saying the very second that I got in I was seeing things inside the children who were there."

"I'm sorry Josh, but I do not understand by what you mean by 'Seeing things inside the children'."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"I SAW the virus inside all the children back at the Hospital. I could see it through their skin."

"I must say that's awfully strange."

"Strange? Strange?! You think that's strange. Get a loud of this, when I told my Doctor that I was cured he completely went into obsessive mode or something. He tried to stick me with a needle to knock me out." Josh explains walking around in circles

E.D.I. just watches Josh's reaction to all of this.

"What did you do?"

Josh looks back at E.D.I.

"What did I do? I don't know what I did, one second the portable E.E.G. machine is fine and exploded, the next I grab the Doctor by the hands and literally shocked him out."

"Shocked? Josh?"

Josh stops walking and looks down at his hands.

"Shocked…', rubs fingers, 'Hero did something to me. It's all coming back…"

Josh remembers what Hero did to him. He gave him his powers. But how can he be using them in the real world.

"Hero gave me his powers to defeat Cyrus…"

"How do you know this?"

Josh looks up at E.D.I.

"Because he told me right before he erased himself. He couldn't stand being in the game anymore."

Josh raises his hands in front of his face. He looks off to the side and sees a light bulb hanging on the wall. Josh slowly points his hand at it and E.D.I. just watches.

"What are you doing Josh?"

"I need to see for myself if this is coming from me."

"What's coming from you?"

Josh points his hand at the light, then all of a sudden a bolt of lightning shoots out of Josh's hand and he throws his hand back.

"WHOA!"

The light bulb explodes and Josh looks at his hand.

"That's what's coming from me.', stares at hands, 'I don't believe this."

"That's why I detected a large amount of power coming off from you. That's what was interrupting my scans."

Josh continues to stare at his hands.

"This is amazing. Just like when I was fighting Beta, the same thing happened to me. But I couldn't bring anything from the game world to here."

"I remember that. You were fighting Beta and he threw you into the force field which instead of shocking you, you absorbed its energy and used the power to your advantage."

"And now that I have it, I'm going to use it to defeat Cyrus." Josh says turning around walking back to the elevator

E.D.I. notices Josh leaving again.

"Now where are you going Josh?"

Josh turns around and throws down the elevator.

"Putting an end to Cyrus's virus for good. I kill him, the virus will be gone from all the kids.', throws down elevator door, 'I hope."

Josh goes down and into the Garage. He hops on his bike and it automatically starts. Josh smirks and punches it right towards the Garage door. He throws his hand at it and it shoots right up without taking very long. Josh rides ahead and right to the Arcade.

Litwak Arcade…

Josh enters the Arcade and literally sees no one around. He walks further in and literally sees the whole place emptied.

"God this place looks awful."

As Josh moves forward, suddenly Tommy bumps into him.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!" Tommy yells

Tommy drops his phone and the two see who it is.

"Josh."

"Tommy? What are you doing here?"

"See this place? No one's here."

Josh narrows his eyes and looks around.

"I see that."

"I've never seen Litwak's Arcade like this before."

Josh brushes his hair back.

"Neither have I…', looks down at Tommy, 'Have you seen my Dad?"

Tommy shrugs.

"He's around here somewhere. I saw him go in the back, but that was hours ago."

Josh narrows his eyes hard at the door to the back office. He sighs slowly.

"That's never a good sign."

"Oh by the way Josh', Josh looks back down at Tommy, 'I got more information about that game."

"_Cyrus the Virus?"_

"You bet. Want to know what I know?"

Josh smirks.

"Sure."

Josh crosses his arms and leans against a game console, but as he does, the game shorts out and the two notice.

"Whoa!" Tommy yells

Josh gulps and shakes his head.

"Got to remember that." Josh whispers to himself

"It's a pretty old game. A lot of these games are old."

"But they're still fun to play right?"

"Yeah, but not everyone likes a video game that was built over twenty years ago."

Josh nods and knows that for a fact.

"You said you had XBOX and Playstation right?"

Tommy smiles and nods.

"Always after a new game that comes out."

"I heard a new one that's taken forever to come out is coming out in a few weeks."

"Which one is that, there's a few of them like that."

Josh scratches his head.

"I don't know. I don't have time to remember all the games that are out nowadays, especially with on game consoles at everyone's home."

"Such a downer."

Josh crosses his arms and stands straight up.

"Anyway, what did you find out about _Cyrus the Virus_?"

"What I found out that along Hero's journey, before he can fight Cyrus, he has to fight the notorious Five."

Josh blinks remembering Hero said something about 'The Five'.

"The Five?"

"Yeah, there like mini-bosses before you fight Cyrus at the end. I heard their pretty tough. Each of them do certain things."

Josh nods.

"Five boss battles and I guess they have different powers compared to what Cyrus does."

"That's what I thought too."

"There just basically to slow Hero down right?"

"Exactly. Wouldn't be much of a game if you went directly after the main boss right?"

Josh sighs slowly.

"No. It wouldn't."

Josh looks to the side and sees the game over on the other side of the Arcade. Tommy looks at what Josh is looking at and sees it too.

"It feels like there alive don't it?"

Josh blinks and slowly looks down at Tommy.

"What did you just say?"

Tommy shakes his head and smiles.

"Stupid right? You play games so much you begin to think their part of your life or something. Or that their alive right? Ha, ha…"

Josh sort of smiles and nods.

"I know what you mean."

Tommy bends down and picks up his phone. He looks up at Josh.

"I thought I was the only one."

Josh looks around at all the games in the Arcade.

"You play enough games like I have Tommy…you start to see them differently.', Tommy looks around as well, 'And your right.', Tommy looks up at Josh again, 'There more alive than you think."

Tommy blinks just wondering what exactly Josh meant by that. Josh walks ahead and Tommy turns around watching Josh.

"What are you doing?'

Josh stops and turns his head around.

"Finishing what I came here to do. By tomorrow Tommy, _Cyrus the Virus _will no longer be in this Arcade anymore."

Josh turns back around and Tommy looks down at the ground. He walks to the back office and quietly opens the door. Josh finds his Father slumped over on his desk, passed out. He shakes his head and slowly closes the door.

"Enjoy the rest Dad because it'll be your last."

Josh sets up his usual ritual for going inside Game Central Station. He extends the cord long enough so he hides in the closet in case his Father ever wakes up. He tapes the ripped wire and takes a deep breath. Josh looks down and stares at his hands.

"God I hope this works…"

Josh closes his eyes and puts his head to the cord. His body jumps and Josh gets sucked into Game Central Station.

Game Central Station…

The cord lights up and shoots directly at Game Central Station. At the entrance Josh plugged the cord in; his body gets thrown out of the tunnel and down the stairs. Josh lies there motionless for a few seconds and suddenly the electricity inside his body shoots out and around him to revive him. He lies there for a few more seconds and finally opens his eyes. Josh stands up and walks out into Game Central Station.

As Josh walks out into the Station, he looks around carefully eyeing everything that's moving. Across from him on the other side of the Station, Josh spots the entrance to _Cyrus the Virus_. Josh clenches his fist so hard little spots of electricity form around. He looks down and just feels the power inside him just wanting to get out.

_Now things should be easier for me to defeat Cyrus._

Josh walks out and heads directly to _Cyrus the Virus._ As Josh walks out, amongst the crowd, Vanellope spots Josh and looks closer to see if it's really him.

"Josh? Josh!"

Josh's serious face slips away and looks to the side. He sees Vanellope glitching her way towards him and stops several feet away from him.

"Josh where've you been?"

"Vanellope listen to me…"

"What?"

As Vanellope gets closer to Josh, she starts to short out.

"Ow!" Vanellope yells

Josh looks down at himself and backs up. Calhoun, Felix and Ralph come running seeing Vanellope short out.

"Vanellope are you alright?" Felix asks

Vanellope looks back at Josh and sees him shooting out bits of electricity from different parts of his body. The other three see it and Josh tries to hold it in. Calhoun blinks and throws her hair back.

"Been busy a bit lately Josh?"

Josh tilts his head at Calhoun and throws out his staff.

"Calhoun…', Josh slowly walks towards Calhoun, she starts to short out to and feels it, Josh sees it also but keeps walking towards her, 'No more hard feelings. No more selfish hate.', Calhoun tries to listen but keeps feeling the effects of Josh's power as he keeps getting closer and closer, 'I'm putting an end to Cyrus. I can do it either alone or with the one Sergeant I trust throughout this whole Station."

Josh sees Calhoun's body shorting out as she struggles to stand up. Felix, Vanellope and Ralph watch as Josh touches Calhoun's shoulder and the shorts stop. Calhoun 'feels' the flow of energy Josh has in him being uploaded into her.

"You in, or out?"

Felix, Ralph and Vanellope wait for answer from Calhoun. Calhoun shakes her head…and finally nods. Josh smirks and backs up.

"Vanellope, stay with Ralph. No matter what happens, don't let Cyrus's husks come near you or anyone."

"Wait, Josh, what are going to do?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks back.

"To beat Cyrus and win. Like I always say, I never lose."

Calhoun rolls her eyes and loads her gun.

"Famous last words…"

Josh smiles and continues onto to the entrance of _Cyrus the Virus_. Calhoun rounds up her troops and Josh stands in front of the entrance. He holds his staff tightly and stares at the fungus growing around the entrance. Josh takes a deep breath and WHAM! Josh takes his staff and hits each section of the growth one by one at a time. Everyone watches what Josh does. Calhoun and her men appear near Josh and get ready for whatever comes out of the game.

Josh hits the growth a few more times and finally stops. He breathes heavily seeing all the destruction he's caused. Josh walks back several yards and throws his staff hard into the ground. He waits patiently for Cyrus to come out. Suddenly some gusts of wind push out of the entrance of the game. Josh clenches his fists waiting for Cyrus with a serious look on his face. Suddenly Cyrus flies out hard causing every game character to push back. Josh stands his ground as finally Cyrus lands on the ground and stares at Josh in the distance.

"Josh…', looks back and sees his virus remains scattered all over the place, looks back at Josh, 'Been a little busy I see? How you feeling?"

Josh smirks.

"I got better."

Cyrus narrows his eyes.

"Oh really?"

Josh stands his ground as Cyrus snaps his fingers. Suddenly some of his husks appear in a circle around Josh. He notices and looks around. Cyrus sighs.

"Déjà vu Josh?"

Josh cracks his knuckles.

"Same scenario, but trust me Cyrus, it will have a different ending."

Cyrus scratches his forehead.

"Doesn't matter, I've already gotten what I wanted from you. Besides, you'll be another one of my little puppets soon. My puppets', Cyrus's husks turn at Cyrus, he snaps his fingers, 'Attack."

The husks growl and go after Josh. Josh looks serious, picks up his staff and the first husk to attack him comes right from behind. But Josh implants his staff into him and Cyrus just watches lost.

"What the hell?"

The husks just watch as Josh continues to hold his staff into the husks chest. Suddenly, Josh's staff shoots out a powerful lighting shot right out the other end of the husk and into the wall of Game Central Station. Cyrus drops his arms as he sees his husk break apart into a million pieces. Josh spins around his staff knocking off the little pieces of the husk. Cyrus just looks closer and all Josh does, is smile at him pointing his staff at him.

"You better try a new trick because that one's getting old really quick."

"GET HIM!" Cyrus yells and orders

Josh spins his staff around as Cyrus's husks attack him. One by one, Josh swings his staff into them and they erupt into a million pieces. Cyrus slowly backs up seeing what Josh can do. He remembers that only one person could beat his husks.

"Hero…"

Josh continues to fight Cyrus's husks. He spins around his staff around the neck of one of them and slams it into the ground destroying it into a million pieces. One husk behind Josh comes up to him without his knowing. As the husk gets closer, a loud gunshot goes off and Josh raises his head. He turns around and sees a husk slowly dying off a gunshot wound. Josh kills it by slamming his staff into it. He looks around and sees it was Calhoun shot him. Josh nods and Calhoun returns it. Josh hears one husk running awkwardly at him. He rolls his eyes, spins his staff around and plunges it into the husk. He ripples into a million pieces and Josh wipes off his staff.

"That felt good."

Cyrus looks pissed and walks to Josh. Josh spins around.

"Your turn now Cyrus."

But as Josh turns around, Cyrus lunges forward and grabs Josh by the neck. Cyrus throws Josh up against the wall and his staff flies out of his hand. Josh struggles to break free of Cyrus's grasp but Cyrus shows more strength over him without even flinching.

"I infected you once before Josh; don't think I won't do it again."

Josh struggles as he sees Cyrus's eyes changing a deep dark orange color. Josh's eyes start to show the same color and he looks to the side and sees his staff. Calhoun and her men aim their guns at Cyrus and open fire, but their bullets evaporate as they get an inch away from Cyrus. Cyrus smiles to knowing what just happened.

"Your friends can't save you…you're finished."

Josh lends out his hand without Cyrus's knowing. Cyrus begins to feel his virus growing inside Josh again.

"Soon you will be my toy again."

Josh looks hard at Cyrus and mumbles a few words to him. Cyrus narrows his eyes and moves his ear closer to Josh.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Josh uses his other hand and gets a grasp off of his neck.

"I said…I GOT MY STAFF!"

Cyrus looks surprised and looks down. He sees Josh's staff aimed at his chest and quickly looks at Josh. Josh fires a lightning bolt into Cyrus and he flies back. Josh falls back down and gasps for air. He shakes his head feeling little bits of the virus in him. Josh holds his throat and suddenly the virus gets removed and turns into ash in his hand. He looks at his hand full of ash and drops it. Josh looks back at Cyrus slowly getting up feeling his chest.

"Oh…', gets up, 'That really hurt…" Cyrus says standing up

"Hey Cyrus!"

Cyrus looks up and sees Josh pointing his staff at him like a shotgun. He backs up and Josh fires his staff like a shotgun. Each shot fires a power lightning bolt and hits Cyrus hard. Pump, fire, pump, fire, and pump fire over and over again Josh hits Cyrus as Cyrus begins to get weaker and weaker by each hit. Josh gets ready for the final blow, but Cyrus gathers up his remaining strength and snaps his thumb for a powerful husk. Josh stops walking and turns around, he sees the giant husk that Cyrus summoned.

"Wonderful…"

Josh spins around his staff and walks to the giant husk. Cyrus pushes himself up and quickly flies back into his game. Back with Josh, Josh jumps up high in the air and attacks the husk. He throws his staff at the husk and his lighting abilities inflict damage to it. But the giant husk isn't taking on enough damage from Josh alone. He catches his staff.

"This isn't working!"

"Josh!', Calhoun yells, Josh turns around and sees a straight line of Calhoun and her soldiers aiming their guns at the husk, Josh flinches and Calhoun aims her rifle, 'Duck!"

Josh slides on the ground and Calhoun and her men shoot at the husk with all their rifles. The husk takes a serious amount of damage and Josh looks. Calhoun and her men stop firing; Josh stands up and throws his staff right at the end of the giant husk. It sticks right in its head and Josh fires a powerful lightning bolt right at his staff. It inflicts a major amount of damage and the giant husk falls over shattering into a million pieces. Josh walks to it and picks up his staff. He turns his head at the entrance to the game and walks to it. Calhoun, Ralph, Felix and Vanellope notice and run to Josh.

"Josh! Josh wait!" Vanellope yells

Josh stops right before the cord entrance to the game. He sees his friends following right behind him.

"Where are you all going?"

"We're coming with you." Vanellope answers

"Guys…', Josh shakes his head, 'This is to dangerous this time. This is nothing like what Beta did. Cyrus is stronger, smarter and more powerful then all of us combined."

"You think that's going to stop us?" Ralph asks

Josh looks at Ralph.

"We're a team. You can't fight this alone." Calhoun says

Josh blinks and slowly looks at Calhoun. He slowly shakes his head and sort of smiles.

"I can't see what's going to happen in there…"

"That shouldn't matter', Felix says walking forward, Josh looks down at Felix walking up the steps, 'As long as we stick together, nothing should touch us brother." Felix says grabbing his golden hammer

Josh sighs and shakes his head.

"Let's do this then."

The four walk up the steps to the game. Josh turns around and walks to the black hole cord to the game. The five stand in front of the entrance for a second. There's no train but suddenly the five are picked up and sucked into the game. They all scream as a strange force sucks them into Cyrus's game. Josh looks up ahead and sees a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

"HOLD ON!" Josh yells

The four look ahead and see the bright light. Then suddenly the four disappear into the game.

_Cyrus the Virus…_

All is quiet inside the game. At the exit everything seems like nothing, but suddenly the five are shot out like a bullet and land hard on the ground one at a time.

"OH!" Josh yells

"AH!" Vanellope yells

"UHH!" Calhoun yells

"WHOA!" Felix shouts

"AHHHH!" Ralph screams

Ralph's body shakes up the ground a bit. Josh shakes his head and slowly stands up.

"That was…different…"

"Did we make it?" Vanellope asks

Josh walks to Vanellope and helps her stand up. He looks around and sees the game of _Cyrus the Virus._

"I'm going to say…yes."

Vanellope looks around and sees the horrifying layout of the game world.

"Holy sweetness."

Josh slowly stands up and Ralph, Felix and Calhoun walk behind Josh and Vanellope. They look at the vast destruction of Cyrus's world. The sky looks like its on fire. Orange and red all over the place. The buildings are torn to shreds and the streets are completely deserted. Josh shakes his head.

"And I thought your game was dark and horrifying Calhoun…" Josh comments

Calhoun narrows her eyes and slowly turns her head at Josh. Josh looks at Calhoun and walks ahead.

"Just breaking the awkward silence. Let's move…"

As Josh moves ahead the four follow. Josh snaps his thumbs and turns around.

"Let's stay in formation. Anyone gets separated might get infected or get mistaken as husk."

"He's right. Circle around. Everyone." Calhoun explains

Josh takes the lead; everyone else forms a circle so they got eyes in all directions. Josh holds his staff firmly, Calhoun keeps her rifle ready, and Ralph keeps his fists up ready to hit anything that comes, Felix pops up his hat and holds up his hammer, Vanellope just sticks close to Josh. As the five continue on, down the street, several husks hide from the five's presence. They get closer and closer to them and suddenly they all jump out around the five. The five see and get in closer.

"We're surrounded!" Vanellope yells

"They're everywhere!" Ralph yells

"Stay calm, everyone!" Calhoun orders

Josh twirls around his staff and looks back at everyone.

"Excuse me everyone, I need your attention.', everyone looks at Josh, 'Due to the number of infectes around us I can't take any chances of you getting infected, so…', Josh taps everyone on their shoulders, a small spark jumps on them and they each feel it, Ralph, Vanellope and Felix, Josh nods seeing that they might be immune to the infection, 'Hope this helps you guys."

"What did you just do to us?" Felix shaking his head

"Helping you stay immune from these guys, one touch and you'll be just like them like I was."

"We're immune?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs.

"I think…"

"Very reassuring Josh." Calhoun says narrowing her eyes

"Only one way to find out…Ralph?"

"What?"

Josh nods with a smile.

"Your motto please?"

Ralph blinks for a second and slowly nods with a smirk. He walks out past Josh as he taps his staff on his hands. Ralph stands in front of the crowd of husks and lifts up his gigantic hands.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

The husks screech and run towards Ralph. He gets ready and beats them all to a crisp. Hit after hit, pound after pound, stomp after stomp and…wreck after wreck. Ralph takes each husk and slams them to death with his gigantic hands. He picks several of them up and throws them down on the ground hard. Josh smiles seeing that Ralph isn't even getting infected at all.

"It's working. It's working!"

Josh turns and sees passed Calhoun at several husks running her way.

"Calhoun!" Josh yells pointing

Calhoun looks at what Josh is pointing at and aims her rifle at the husks. She shoots them and takes care of her side. Josh turns around behind Felix and Vanellope and sees two husks running their way.

"Vanellope! Felix! Don't move!" Josh orders raising his staff

Vanellope and Felix look up.

"Why?" Felix asks

"Don't move!" Josh yells throwing his staff into the ground

As Josh throws hit staff into the ground, a powerful blast of electricity shoots out of the ground and around Vanellope and Felix. They grab hold of each other and look at the direction of the electricity is going. Josh concentrates hard enough and his eyes turn brighter blue. The electricity turns into a pair of hands and grabs the husks. Josh makes the 'hands' smash the husks together and they evaporate into a million pieces. Felix and Vanellope look and Josh picks up his staff out of the ground.

"Not bad I say so myself."

Josh looks down and sees Felix and Vanellope still holding each other.

"Felix, you animal you. I didn't know you liked little girls. What will Calhoun think?"

"Huh?', sees Vanellope and lets go, 'Oh."

Vanellope walks to Josh and Felix fixes his hat. Josh just laughs and looks at Ralph destroying the last husk. He claps his hands and walks back to the group. Calhoun kills the last husk and reloads her weapon. She walks back to the group as well.

"Okay, now what?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns around and looks down the street. In the distance, Josh spots a tall remaining building that's still intact. He slowly looks up and figures out that Cyrus is up there.

"There', Josh points and everyone looks, 'Guys this is your last chance to leave, once we go up there, there's no turning back."

Everyone stares up at the building and look back down at Josh. Josh sees that there all going to stay. He nods.

"Let's go."

The four follow Josh to Cyrus's Tower.

Cyrus's Tower, The Game's Screen Room…

Cyrus limps his way into the screen room where he can see the outside of the game world of Litwak's Arcade. He limps his way to a machine that's connected to the screen. Cyrus looks off to the side and outside in front of the screen, Mr. Litwak walks his way out towards the exit. Cyrus just watches as he closes the doors behind him and locks it up. Cyrus shakes his head and grabs a switch to the machine.

"Time to finally get the hell out of here…"

Suddenly four more figures walk in the room and Cyrus takes notice without turning.

"Going somewhere Cyrus?" Darkness asks

Cyrus sighs as the sees The Five looking at him.

"Excuse me lady and gentlemen but I'm kind of in a hurry."

"I don't think so Cyrus." Siren says walking further in

"Now, now everyone. Josh is on his way."

"I thought you took care of that boy." TK states

"Couldn't take him on your little virus ride Cyrus?" Driver asks

"Things have become quite complicated Driver. He broke my virus that was in him and now he's got Hero's powers.', the Five look amongst each other and back at Cyrus, 'But if you want to leave, now's your chance. I got what I needed from that boy."

"Will he be a problem in our plans?" Darkness asks

Cyrus rolls his eyes.

"'Our' plans? It's 'my' plan. It's always been my plan. All of you are just pawns to slow Josh down in case he comes after me."

"Don't forget who you're talking to Cyrus." Darkness says clenching his fist

Cyrus looks serious and clenches his fist.

"Get out of here before I change my mind."

Cyrus and Darkness stare into each other's eyes. Cyrus just smirks.

"What's the point in looking at you, I can hardly see you as it is.', Darkness narrows his eyes from the shadow cast over him, Cyrus smirks, 'Now if I were you, which I'm glad I'm not, sunlight usually comes out bright in the real world. So finds a nice dark hole to climb in until I need you. ANY of you. Go!" Cyrus orders

Darkness, TK, Siren and Driver look at the games screen and walk to it. Back with Josh and company.

Cyrus's Building, Ground Floor…

Josh and them enter the Ground Floor of the Building and walk further in. In front of them, a set of elevators stand before them leading all the way up to the top floors of the Building. Josh sees.

"There."

Josh and them walk to the elevator and Josh sees a hand print pad to only be accessed by personal only.

"A hand print card reader huh?" Josh asks

"Can you do something with it?" Vanellope asks

Josh shrugs.

"Maybe…if I don't fry it too hard."

Josh puts his hand over the pad and sparks it up a bit. The four watch and wait but as Josh sends more juice into the machine, it turns on and activates. It scans Josh's hand.

"**Identity confirmed: Welcome Hero."**

Josh blinks and slowly takes his hand away. The elevator doors open and the four look at Josh.

"Hero?" Calhoun asks

Josh continues to stare at his hand.

"It thinks I'm Hero?"

"Why would it think that?" Felix asks

Josh shakes his hand and lowers it.

"I have his powers; maybe I have his DNA too or something. Or codes. Come on." Josh says boarding the elevator

Josh gets in first and the four follow in tow.

Cyrus's Tower, The Game's Screen Room…

Cyrus stands alone catching his breath. He flips the switch to keep it on. Cyrus walks his way to the games screen, still limping; suddenly Josh and them enter the room. He turns around and sees them. Josh looks around.

"Well, well, well, hi Cyrus. Going somewhere?"

Cyrus quickly rushes his way to the screen. Calhoun points her pistol but Josh stops her by putting up his hand. Josh takes out his staff and throws it hard at Cyrus. It hits him and he goes flying face first into the ground. Vanellope rubs her nose.

"Nice shot Josh."

Josh smirks and walks to Cyrus.

"Thanks."

Josh picks up his staff and walks to a now crawling away Cyrus.

"Aw, you fall down Cyrus?', Josh picks up Cyrus, 'Here, let me help you up."

Josh throws Cyrus up against the wall and the four just watch. He then twirls his staff around and slugs it up against Cyrus's face sending little shock bolts into his face. The four go 'ooh' to that hit.

"That, was for coming to my Arcade and destroying it."

Josh throws Cyrus away and he slides on the floor. He walks to him and picks him up again. But this time, Josh softly slaps Cyrus in the face.

"That, was for infecting me with your virus."

Cyrus shakes his head. Josh looks behind Cyrus and sees the games screen right behind him. Josh can clearly see the Arcade in clear sight. Josh smirks and looks at Cyrus.

"And this…', starts spinning around fast with Cyrus, throws him at screen, 'is for all the children you infected!"

Cyrus flies right at the screen. Josh smirks knowing that Cyrus will just collide against the screen, but as Cyrus hits it, he goes right through it. Everyone looks and just stares at what just happened. Josh's smile completely drops

"Did I just see what I think I just saw?" Calhoun asks

"Usually when you do that they just hit the screen." Ralph states

Josh slowly walks to the screen.

"I don't believe it. He…Cyrus actually did it." Josh says standing inches away from the screen

"Did what Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh slowly touches the game's screen. And as he does, his hand goes right through hit.

"He made an 'exposed' wire. To come and go anytime he wants out of the game like me."

"But that's impossible. No game character can ever leave their game." Felix explains

Josh looks back at everyone.

"Did I not just see him leave, or was I the only one looking?"

"Josh, this isn't possible!" Calhoun shouts

"Isn't possible?! LOOK!', Josh touches the screen and his hand goes through it, the four watch, 'That's MY world Cyrus has gone into! HE'S IN MY WORLD! Come on!"

"Where?" Calhoun asks

"My world Calhoun. We have to go after him and stop him!"

The four slowly approach and Calhoun holsters her weapon.

"Go…into the Arcade?" Ralph asks

"Outside our games?" Felix asks

"This is…scary." Vanellope says

"Guys, it's not that bad."

"If we go Josh…will we be able to come back?" Calhoun asks

Josh sighs.

"Look guys, you can't spend the rest of your life doing the same thing over and over again. You have to try new things, like I did when I was here. So what do you say, are you coming, or not?"

Josh spins around his staff and sticks it to his back. The four look at each other and show that their worried about the idea. They look back at Josh and walk his way.

"I've always wanted to see the console of my game." Vanellope says

Josh smiles and turns around. They walk up through the game's screen and WHAM! They get sucked through and thrown out the other side.

Litwak Arcade…

Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope get thrown on the ground of the Arcade. They all grunt and moan from feeling the effect of the transport.

"Oooh…my head." Ralph says

"Did it work?" Felix asks fixing his hat

"Josh?" Vanellope calls for

Calhoun looks back at the game screen and sees the room they were just in.

"It didn't work. Were still here." Calhoun states

Suddenly Josh walks out behind the games with his staff in his hands.

"You sure about that?" Josh asks limping his way towards his friends

Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun look up at Josh and see the Arcade back behind him.

"Welcome to the Arcade…in person."

The four slowly stand up and see the Arcade in person.

"We're…actually here?" Calhoun asks

Josh nods. As the four slowly walk towards him, screaming and honking is heard. They all look in the direction and Josh runs towards it.

"It's Cyrus! Come on!"

The four follow in tow.

Outside, in front of Litwak's, Street…

Cyrus limps his way as cars honk at him getting in his way. Back at the Arcade, Josh and them barge out the front doors looking around for Cyrus. Josh looks at the four are still amazed that there actually outside the Arcade.

"I still don't believe it', looking around, 'Where outside the Arcade." Calhoun states

Josh shakes his head.

"Amazing isn't it?', realizes something, 'I almost forgot, you guys have to be careful out here. It's not like the gaming world. It's completely different. Things work differently around here."

More screaming is heard and Josh turns around. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun look at as well. Back with Cyrus, a driver sees Cyrus standing in the road before him. He slams on his brakes and skids. The driver stops inches away from Cyrus and gets out of the car.

"Hey! Are you nuts! GET OUT OF THE ROAD!"

Cyrus looks hard at the guy and walks around. He grabs the guy and infects him with the virus.

"Ah, ahhhh!"

"Get out of my way." Cyrus says letting go of the man

Cyrus throws the guy to the side and gets in the car, back with Josh and them. They see what Cyrus is doing and Josh just flinches.

"He's getting away!"

"No he isn't." Calhoun says getting her gun

"Huh?"

Josh looks and sees Calhoun pointing her pistol at the car Cyrus's driving in. He jumps seeing what Calhoun's doing.

"Calhoun! No!"

"Add this to my perfect score."

Cyrus drives away and Calhoun fires at the car. But as she shoots, the bullets just bounce off and her targeting is a little off. Cyrus drives down the street getting away. Calhoun slowly turns her gun and sees and feels like something is wrong. Josh sighs and is about to say something, but Calhoun stops him.

"Don't say a word. DON'T SAY A WORD Josh."

Josh shakes his head. He looks down the street and sees Cyrus turning right.

"I know where he's going! Will take a short cut down the alley!"

Josh and them run across the street as cars honk at them. They make it into the alleyway and in hope they cut Cyrus off. Back with Cyrus, he gets the feeling of the car. And slowly, his virus uploads itself into the car. Cyrus then let's go of the steering wheel and the car begins driving on its own. Back with Josh and them, they run further down the alleyway and Josh looks up ahead and sees a brick wall.

"No, no, no! I forgot!', they all stop near the brick wall, 'There's a brick wall here…we have to turn back."

But Ralph walks ahead.

"I'll take care of it."

Josh watches and shakes his head.

"Ralph, no! NO!"

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

"Ralph!"

Ralph goes to town on the brick wall smashing it into pieces. Hit after hit the wall falls down and breaks into a million pieces. Ralph claps his hands together and points at the destruction he caused.

"Want to still go around?"

Josh shakes his head and everyone runs ahead. Back with Cyrus, he turns down the street where Josh and them will cut him off. Back with Josh and company, Ralph runs slowly feeling his hands.

"Ow! My hands…their starting to hurt."

Josh looks back still running.

"Well what do you expect?!', Ralph looks at Josh, 'You can't expect to punch a brick wall with your BARE hands and not have them hurt. This is not a video game anymore guys!"

"Now you tell me!" Ralph yells

"I did!"

Josh and them run out into the street and Cyrus sees them. Cyrus looks serious and jumps out of the car. The car continues on and everyone jumps out of the way.

"Look out!"

They jump out of the way and look at the speeding car just driving away.

"He's getting away! Again!" Vanellope yells

Josh watches as the car continues on and drives away. He slowly turns around and sees Cyrus running away down another alleyway. Josh looks back and forth and wonders what Cyrus just did. He looks serious and runs after Cyrus.

"Where's he going Josh? Josh?" Calhoun asks turning around

Ralph, Felix and Vanellope turn as well and see Josh running down another alleyway.

(Same time)

"HEY!"

The four give chase after Josh. Down the alleyway, Cyrus runs as Josh makes it down the alleyway as Cyrus. He looks back and sees Josh chasing him. Cyrus runs around the corner and sees a ladder up ahead. He jumps towards it and climbs it. Josh runs around the corner and sees Cyrus climbing up higher to another level. Cyrus quickly turns around and throws the ladder up. Josh spins around his staff and jumps trying to catch the ladder, but it's too high up. He looks to the side and sees another ladder low enough for him to climb up.

Josh runs to it and jumps up throwing his staff up at it. He climbs up the staff and up the ladder. Josh jumps across the way to where Cyrus was when he threw up the ladder. Back on the ground, Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun make it around the corner as well.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh jumps ahead and passes up the ladder.

"Hey! The ladder!" Calhoun yells

Josh slides and goes back to the ladder. He throws it down as hard as he can but it's still a little too high for any of them to reach. Calhoun jumps but doesn't catch it.

"It's not low enough! Throw it down some more!" Calhoun orders

Josh climbs through the window looking for Cyrus. He holds his staff firmly and walks past a wall. And right behind it, Cyrus appears with an axe and attacks Josh. Josh deflects Cyrus's attack with the axe and uses his staff as a shield.

"An axe?! Really?!"

Cyrus throws down the axe hard and Josh deflects it. He sticks Cyrus with the staff a few times shocking him. Josh kicks him into the wall and he falls hard into it. He runs up to Cyrus but Cyrus throws Josh into the wall and runs away. Josh rubs his face and chases after Cyrus, back with Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun, they finally make it up and climb through the window.

"Where are they?" Felix asks

Calhoun looks and sees Josh running chasing after Cyrus.

"There!" Calhoun points

The four give chase after Josh and Cyrus. Back with Cyrus and Josh, the two run down a long hallway with Cyrus yards away from Josh as he runs after Cyrus. Cyrus spins around and throws the axe at Josh which spins. Josh sees it and ducks. He looks back, back with Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun, Calhoun looks at the axe that's being thrown and pushes Felix back.

"Felix look out!"

Calhoun pulls Felix back as the axe gets punched into the wall. Cyrus runs across a run down under Construction Bridge and almost falls through the floor. He quickly gets back up and runs across, back with Josh in tow, he runs across the same bridge but the hole Cyrus made before cracks even harder as Josh steps on it. Josh almost goes through the floor but stays on top.

"SHIT!"

Back with Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun, Calhoun is the lead of the group and sees Josh in the floor.

"Josh, what's going on?" Calhoun asks walking towards him

Josh looks back and sees Calhoun walking towards him. He knows if she walks to him they'll both fall through the floor. Josh starts waving his hand.

"Calhoun! No! Don't come any closer! It's not safe!"

"What are you talking about?"

Calhoun gets closer.

"CALHOUN STOP!"

"What are you talking abou…"

But as Calhoun asks, both Josh and Calhoun fall through the bridge and down to the ground below. Ralph stops Felix and Vanellope from falling down. The three watch as Josh and Calhoun crash hard on the floor below. Josh and Calhoun roll on the ground as they try to get their strength back.

"Oh….oooh…ahhh." Josh moans

"Uuhhhh."

Suddenly two car lights flash on the two and they look. They see a speeding car coming right at them. They both look surprised and roll out of the speeding cars way. Josh and Calhoun both quickly get back up and Calhoun grabs her gun and fires. Josh stays back as Calhoun fires each shot over and over again. The car stops ahead and Cyrus gets in the driver's seat. Calhoun fires her last bullet and click, click. Cyrus drives away as the two slowly fall down from the injuries they just gotten. Josh holds his left shoulder.

"AW GOD! I think I dislocated my shoulder! Nine month I went without breaking it Calhoun…and you broke my record!"

Calhoun turns her head, looking pissed at Josh. She brushes her messed up hair back.

"Why didn't you say something about the bridge?"

Josh sighs.

"I did."

"No you didn't."

"I did!"

"No you did not!"

Josh jumps up.

"Calhoun, I YELLED STOP!"

Calhoun rolls her eyes.

"I didn't hear you."

Josh sighs really hard.

"I'm in no mood right now."

Ralph, Felix and Vanellope run down a set of stairs on the ground floor where the two are at.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh looks and sees the three running at them.

"Oh nice to see you guys. How were the stairs?"

"A lot easier then how it looked for you." Ralph explains

Josh smirks and feels his shoulder.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

Josh walks ahead with his friends in tow…

Outside…

The group walks outside. Josh uses his staff as a cane and catches his breath.

"Man I'm exhausted…"

Vanellope looks off to the side and spots a store lights on saying 'Video Games'. She narrows her eyes and walks towards it. Ralph notices and follows Vanellope. Felix notices and follows Ralph. Calhoun notices and follows Felix. Josh spins around his staff and looks back.

"Let's go back to my…', sees no one around, 'Where did everyone go? Guys?"

Josh looks off to the side and sees everyone standing outside a game store. He narrows his eyes and walks on over towards them. Josh comes closer to them; he walks on the side of Calhoun and sees all their faces with a blank stare on them.

"What?"

Josh looks through the stores window and sees all the different types of video games on the shelves of the store. He slowly lowers his head seeing that Calhoun, Felix, Ralph and Vanellope see that this is the games nowadays kids play and everything.

"What is this?" Calhoun asks

Josh rubs his eyes and slowly looks up.

"This…is where kids nowadays come to play video games.', the four continue to stare blankly inside the store, 'It's completely different then arcade games."

"Josh…do you have a place where we can all sit down?" Calhoun asks

Josh nods and walks back.

"Yeah…follow me."

Josh walks away. The four slowly turn around and follow Josh to his home.

Josh's Apartment, Elevator…

The five ride up the elevator as Josh stands in front of the doors. He looks back at his friends and see them what disappointed. Josh looks at Calhoun and sees her just a…little bit pissed. He gulps and looks back at the doors. Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"You live above a Factory?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns around.

"I'll explain later."

The elevator stops and Josh throws up the doors. The five walk off and Josh walks ahead and turns around.

"Welcome to my home…', the four look around and back at Josh, 'Welcome to…Litwak Plaza."

"You live above a Factory?" Calhoun asks again

Josh crosses his arms.

"Places to live around here are too expensive, especially on the salary I supposedly make.', Calhoun crosses her arms, 'This is all I could afford and live in."

"You live in a rundown toy Factory." Calhoun states

Josh sighs and turns around.

"The way you say it makes it sound horrible."

Josh walks over to his record player.

"E.D.I., lights."

E.D.I. turns on the lights and the four look around.

"E.D.I. is here as well?" Calhoun asks

Josh stops at the record player.

"Of course. E.D.I., say hello to my guests. Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope."

The four look around and E.D.I. sees them.

"Hello everyone. It is…nice to see you all here."

Josh nods and puts a record on. The four watch Josh and he sets down the needle. Soft melody blues plays throughout the Apartment. Josh snaps his fingers listening to the beats of the music. Felix tips off his hat.

"You listen to records now?" Felix asks

Josh smirks and walks away.

"Someone I know once told me that music never dies. Of course, this was in a Penthouse and not a rundown Apartment."

"It's not that bad Josh." Felix says

Josh looks back.

"Thanks Felix."

"Got anything to eat? I'm starving." Vanellope asks rubbing her stomach

"The refrigerator is right over there Vanellope."

Vanellope looks over and walks to it. She opens it and doesn't see the type of food she knows.

"Got any candy or something?"

Josh sighs.

"Try the cupboards above the fridge."

"Oh."

Vanellope looks up and sees how high the cupboards are.

"Piece of cake."

Vanellope looks like she's going to glitch but, she doesn't.

"Huh?"

Vanellope tries to feel that feeling she gets when she's going to glitch but…she can't.

"Uh…Josh!"

Josh turns around and walks back to Vanellope.

"What?"

Vanellope walks out of the Kitchen and just looks down at herself.

"I…I can't glitch…"

Josh blinks and the other three take notice. He rubs his face not surprised to hear that.

"Figures…"

Calhoun looks serious and walks to Josh. She grabs him by the shoulder and spins him around. Josh sees Calhoun right in her face.

"You got some explaining to do. RIGHT, NOW."

Josh blinks and backs up.

"Everyone to the couch. Have a seat."

Josh walks to the Living Room and everyone goes there as well. Each of them sits down; Vanellope, Calhoun and Felix sit on the couch. But it's rather difficult for Ralph, so he just sits down and makes a loud THUD sound. Josh looks and sees Ralph just sitting down on his butt. He looks at his hands and snaps his thumb.

"Ralph, how many times would you figure that you've wrecked the apartment building of _Fix-It Felix, Jr._?"

Ralph thinks for a moment and shrugs.

"More than I can count. I've done it a lot."

Josh nods.

"Uh-huh…and throughout your reckoning...have you ever, asked yourself why don't your hands hurt when you punch a brick wall with your bare hands?"

Ralph thinks for a moment and the three on the couch look at Ralph. He looks down at his gigantic hands and shakes his head.

"No…"

"Exactly. Because you were in your game. Same with the rest of you', the others look at Josh, 'All you're programming aloud you to do what you do best. But that was when you were in the games. Here, in my reality, it doesn't work anymore. Your programming is denying you your access to what you all do best."

"So what your saying is…what we are programmed to do…we can't no more?" Felix asks

Josh nods.

"I'm afraid so Felix."

"So what now?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs.

"We find Cyrus. What else?"

"No Josh. I mean what now? If we can't even do what we are programmed to do, then were completely useless here." Calhoun explains

"What are you getting at Calhoun?"

"Can we go back? To Game Central Station?"

Josh gulps and the four wait for an answer. He looks down and back up.

"I don't know Calhoun. My honest answer…not likely."

Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"So…where stuck here?"

Josh nods.

"Possibly."

Josh walks ahead and the four just watch. Vanellope jumps up on the couch.

"Josh, where are you going?"

"To bed, I can't think straight when I'm tired."

Everyone stands up and watches Josh go to his Room. Calhoun throws up her hands.

"In the meantime, what are we supposed to do?"

Josh stops right before entering his room and looks at his friends.

"I don't know Calhoun. You're all here now. Best thing to do is make the best of it.', the four look at each other, 'Welcome to my world guys. It's not like your world…but it's not like it either."

Josh turns around and enters his Room. The four continue to stand alone in the Living Room just wondering what's going to happen next.

Next of Chapter 8…

Preview of Chapter 9…

With Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun now in the real world with Josh. They are seeing it for what it's really like. In pursuit after Cyrus, Cyrus is now making Josh look like the bad guy to everyone around him. Even though HE'S the real bad guy. Cyrus makes Josh end up looking like a…terrorist and sets his sights on slowing Josh down really long. Jail time long. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 9 – Reality Bytes


	9. Chapter 9 - Reality Bytes

Chapter 9 – Reality Bytes

Throughout the night, Josh tosses and turns in his sleep. He sees strange images of Cyrus just plotting his schemes and raising his army. Cyrus 'bumps' and 'touches' people just by walking down the street on purpose. They begin to feel the effects of his virus inside them. And slowly, they start to become his husks.

Following morning…

Josh slowly opens his eyes and sees the world sideways. He gets up and rubs his eyes and sighs hard.

"What a night…"

Josh gets up and goes to his Bathroom. As he enters the lights go on and Josh examines his face hard in the mirror. Josh pulls and rubs his face really hard trying to wake up faster. He nods and takes his shirt off. As he does, Josh notices scars around his body.

"What the?"

Josh turns around seeing his reflection of his back. The same kind of scars are there too.

"How did these get…?"

Then Josh remembers…

_When I was infected with the virus. I saw what Cyrus's husks look like when their skin ruptures and pours out. I was close to that stage, if Hero didn't cure me. I guess my body absorbed didn't receive some of the treatment to remove the virus off my skin. As long as I wear a shirt, no one will know._

Josh nods and walks to the shower. He turns it on and gets it going, but as he gets in, the electricity in his body shoots everywhere inflicting harm on him as well.

"AH! AHHH! OOH!"

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks out of his main room, dressed entirely different shaking his head.

"Of course, I can't touch water like that if my entire body is running on electricity. I basically have to take a bird bath…" Josh says walking to the Kitchen

"Good morning Josh."

Josh nods.

"Good morning E.D.I."

"I shall inform you today's weather is cloudy, and it's raining outside."

Josh flinches and closes the refrigerator door.

"Oh! Don't tell me that E.D.I. Please don't tell me that." Josh says shaking his head

"Is there a problem?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"I nearly died just by taking a shower."

"Slip and fall?"

"No, no, the water touched my skin and I felt the effects of the current running through my body', Josh goes on explaining, 'I had to carefully wet a towel and clean myself up with that', Josh looks around and doesn't see his friends insight, 'E.D.I.? Where is everyone?"

"They are down in the Factory."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"The factory? Why?"

"They didn't say. But I overheard one of them say 'Let's check this place out'."

Josh nods with a small smile on his face.

"That might have been Vanellope. I'll bring them back up."

Josh walks to the elevator and heads down to the Factory part of the building.

The Factory…

Josh walks out into the Factory part of the building and looks around. He overhears talking and looks in the direction of the voices. Josh finds his friends up on a platform looking down at the old machines throughout the Factory. He walks towards them.

"What a dump." Calhoun states

"It's a mess. That's for sure." Felix says

"And I thought my home was messy." Ralph says

"Ralph, your home was always messy. You did live in a 'dump'." Vanellope reminds

Ralph looks down funny at Vanellope.

"Remember kid, you can't glitch here."

Vanellope shakes her head.

"Do you have to remind me of that Stink Brain?"

"Well it's true."

"So is about your home."

"Hey, hey! Come on guys. Don't fight." Felix says

Josh walks up the steps and approaches his friends slowly.

"Hey', everyone turns around and sees Josh, 'Enjoying the view?"

Josh walks up and alongside Calhoun.

"Enjoying? That's not the word I'd use." Calhoun states

Josh sighs and nods.

"Right. Admiring?"

"No." Calhoun says shaking her head

Josh looks out at the vast emptiness of the Factory.

"Say whatever you like about this place. It's all true right in front of you."

"Where to start, where to start…" Vanellope says climbing up the railing

Josh shakes his head with a smirk on his face. Calhoun leans forward on the railing, Felix holds his body on the top railing, and Ralph just stands tall holding the top railing.

"Of all places to choose to live, why this place Josh?" Calhoun asks

Josh thinks for a moment and blinks.

"If I told you Calhoun, it was in my price range."

"Liar."

Josh looks over at Calhoun. Calhoun looks down at Josh and knows that he's not telling the entire truth.

"Nothing gets passed you Calhoun."

"One of my trade skills…or programming', Josh nods, 'Something I've picked up from being around you. I'm afraid I know what you're going to do or say right before you do it."

Josh scratches his nose and Calhoun waits for her answer. He sighs slowly.

"This place…reminded me of Game Central Station."

Ralph, Felix and Vanellope look their way at Josh as well. They all look confused at how Josh is comparing this run down place to Game Central Station.

"Are you for real?" Ralph asks

"Yeah', Josh looks at everyone, 'I mean, look around you. Doesn't it have that feeling?"

The four look out and they…don't exactly see it as Josh does.

"I don't know Josh…this place is a dump." Vanellope states

Josh sighs and points around.

"Okay, it looks like that. But look closer…I mean, look at those entrances to get outside.', the four look at the different entrances that lead to the outside of the warehouse, 'I used to walk past them and visualize which game I was passing as if I was in Game Central Station. Like that one right there', Josh points at a certain one, 'That would be _Sugar Rush _right there.', Vanellope takes notice, Josh looks across the way and points at another entrance, 'That right there my tall and short friend, _Fix-It Felix, Jr._', Felix and Ralph look at each other and grow happy faces, Josh then looks serious and straight ahead, 'And right there, the mother of all games, the one, the only, _HERO'S_!_ DUTY_!', Calhoun shakes her head and Josh claps his hands, 'Come on now, let's give a round of applause to the first possible video game characters to leave their world and enter the real one. Let's go!" Josh claps and even whistles

The four turn their heads at Josh as he claps and whistles for them. They look at each other and back at Josh. Josh notices that their looking at him funny. He finally stops clapping and drops his hands.

"Was it something I said?"

The four don't say anything. Josh begins to pick up what's bothering them.

"You want to go back don't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" Vanellope asks looking back out into the Factory

Josh rubs his head and thinks about the course of action of what brought them here: Him.

"It's my fault', the four look back at Josh, 'I forced you to come along when we were at that… 'doorway'. If I didn't say anything, none of you would have come."

"You didn't force us to come here Josh. We may have followed you, but we stepped through the doorway by ourselves." Calhoun explains

Josh crosses his arms.

"You sure did."

Calhoun turns her head back at Josh.

"But you remember this, will try and help you stop Cyrus. But if this does ever end, you have to figure out on how to get us back. Understand?" Calhoun asks with a serious look on her face

Josh sees the look and nods.

"I'll try."

"Also in the meantime, you got to figure out on how we can use our programming here."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Your programming?"

"Yeah, I can't wreck things without my hands getting hurt."

"Yeah, and I can't fix anything if my hammer doesn't work."

"I can't glitch anymore so help me with that first." Vanellope says

Josh puts his hands up.

"Okay, okay! I get it. I'll figure something out. You guys just have to bear with it in the meantime."

"Well how do you do it?" Calhoun asks

"Do what?"

"With your powers. I doubt you couldn't do that before right?" Calhoun states

Josh nods.

"Well…I don't know. It just…feels natural."

"Natural?" Ralph asks

"Yeah, Ralph, what runs through your mind when you wreck stuff?"

Ralph shrugs.

"Well I don't know, I just don't worry about it and…do it."

Josh nods.

"Exactly, why can't you do that here now?"

Ralph realizes it and looks down at his hands. Josh looks out into the Factory and sees some old toys set up. He looks back at Calhoun and nods.

"Hey Calhoun, see those old toys out there', Calhoun looks at what Josh is talking about, 'See them?"

"Yeah."

"Shoot them like you would a Cy-Bug."

Calhoun turns slowly and looks at Josh funny.

"You can't be serious."

"In the real world Calhoun, you got to work with what you got. Shoot them. Pretend their Cy-Bugs."

Calhoun sighs and takes out her pistol. Everyone watches as Josh leans forward on the railing. Calhoun takes careful aim at the toys. She visualizes that the toys are Cy-Bugs. Calhoun looks serious and shoots one. Everyone's surprised, even Calhoun when the toy blows up. Josh smiles and lowers his head. Calhoun just looks all confused.

"How…How is that…"

"It's natural.', Calhoun turns her head and Josh looks up at her, 'Like you've been doing it your whole life right?"

Calhoun looks down at her hand and the gun. Josh looks back out.

"Again."

Calhoun takes aim and does it again. She gets the feeling like it's not just done automatic, but as a skill learned and she knows how to use it. Calhoun shoots the rest of them and Josh stands up.

"Well done."

Calhoun holsters her weapon.

"What about me?" Vanellope asks

Josh sighs and kneels down.

"I don't know Vanellope. Your 'skills' might be…a little tricky."

"Oh come on." Vanellope says putting her hands in her hoodie

"Now, now, don't have that attitude. Got to think positive."

"I'm trying, but no offense Josh, your world bites."

Josh laughs and stands up.

"Yeah, don't remind me. Pretend you're in your kart and racing towards the finish line."

"Pretend?"

"Yeah, you see the finish line before you. Your right behind…Rancis. He's blocking your path, he won't let you pass. Close your eyes', Vanellope closes her eyes and visualizes that she's in _Sugar Rush_, 'You're a mile away from the finish line. Rancis is in front of you. He's not letting you pass. You have to win this.', Vanellope begins to look serious, she gets that feeling inside her knowing she's got to glitch in front of Rancis to win, 'So what are you going to do Vanellope? Win or lose?"

"Win!"

"How?"

Suddenly Vanellope's body glitches. Everyone sees it but she doesn't disappear. The effect is hard to do but Vanellope begins to feel her glitching ability is coming back but doesn't glitch far. Josh shakes his head.

"Well…', Vanellope looks around and up at Josh, 'Not a total loss, but at least you can glitch a little."

"Why can't I glitch at all?"

"Because there's no human in the entire world that can Vanellope."

"Oh where human now?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks funny at Calhoun.

"Not at all.', Calhoun flinches to that remark, 'Your video game characters remember, technically this is your second day of being outside your games. So your only two days old. You have a long way to go before you're technically human."

"And you do?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs.

"Hello. I'm twenty years old. Been alive a lot longer than any of you."

"Our game is thirty years old." Felix states

Josh looks down at Felix.

"True, but how long of it being in the real world Felix', Felix fixes his hat and Josh steps back, 'Guys, you know it's true. I'm sorry."

"Apology not needed." Calhoun says

"Oh, good."

"So don't rub it in." Calhoun orders with a serious look

Josh nods.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, can we leave this dump and go back up to my Apartment which is nicer. Please? Thank you." Josh says walking away

The four look at each other and follow Josh. Felix walks ahead.

"Hey Josh, what about me?"

"Hm?"

"What about my fixing?"

"Well Felix, if I ever get anything broken, you're the first person I'll call."

Josh's Apartment…

All is quiet in Josh's Apartment. Everyone does their own thing. Calhoun fix and cleans her gun. Felix tries 'purposely' breaking something so he can fix it up like he usually does. Ralph just sits on the couch and watches TV, pro wrestling to be exact. And Vanellope, she just stares out the window watching the rain outside pour hard. Josh walks out into his Apartment and sees everyone doing their own thing. He looks off to the side and sees Vanellope looking out the window. Josh walks to her and sits down next to her as she gazes out the window.

"Nice view?"

"Compared to what?"

Josh shrugs.

"Not much I suppose. But don't worry though; the sun will come out after."

"And how would you know that?" Vanellope asks looking up at Josh

"Because after every storm there's always a sun that will come out.', Vanellope crosses her arms, Josh sort of smiles, 'There was this one time when I was younger. I stayed up all night playing a video game. I finally passed out on my bed', Vanellope just listens in on the story, 'I was sound asleep until the moment I heard my brother screaming."

"Jason?"

Josh nods and Vanellope blinks.

"I first thought I was hearing things but then I noticed that it was storming hard outside…and that's when I discovered my brother was afraid of lighting."

8 years ago…

Younger Josh lies motionless on his bed with a Playstation 2 controller in one hand. He licks his lips and gets more comfortable. And then all of a sudden a loud lighting strike strikes outside. Josh shoots right up and looks out the window and sees it raining hard. He shakes his head and goes back down to fall asleep, but then, Jason in the other room screams.

"Ahhh!"

Josh opens his eyes and slowly sits up.

"Jas?"

Josh throws his body off his bed and walks out. His bedroom door is open and he walks down the hallway to his brother's room. Josh walks up to his bedroom door and sees it shut.

"Jas?" Josh softly asks as he grabs the knob

Josh holds the doorknob firmly and turns it. The door creaks and Josh sees Jason on his bed with the blanket over sitting straight up. Jason's hiding under the blanket, slowly shivering. Josh shakes his head and enters more. He kneels down in front of Jason and grabs the top of the blanket.

"It's a little earlier for Halloween don't you think?"

As Josh takes the blanket off Jas's head, another lighting strike hits hard and Jas grabs the blanket.

"NO!"

Josh flinches as Jason throws the blanket over back on his head. He sighs slowly and sits down next to Jason.

"Jas, come on now, what is this?"

"Leave me alone Josh, if you're just going to make fun of me, just leave me alone. I'm scared."

Josh sighs and grabs the blanket.

"I'm not going to make fun of you, come on out. It's okay."

Josh moves the blanket more and more off Jason. He shakes nervously as the light from the lighting shines in the room and fades away. Josh sees how nervous Jason is being about all this.

"See? Nothing to be scared of."

Suddenly lighting strikes loud and Jason jumps.

"AH!"

Jason crawls behind Josh and Josh just snickers. Jason takes note.

"See! You are making fun of me!"

Josh shakes his head.

"I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the lighting."

Jason looks lost.

"Why is lighting funny?"

"Well think about it. Without lighting, we wouldn't be able to do this."

Josh hits a switch and turns on a night light in Jason's room.

"Without electricity, you wouldn't be able to turn that on."

"Well keep it on."

"You know the rules Jas, Dad doesn't want lights on in the middle of the night on."

Josh turns off the light and Jas glues himself to Josh's back. He sighs slowly.

"You already have a light on Jas, don't you see it?"

Jason looks confused.

"Huh? What light?"

Josh points as lighting shines through Jason's room. He sees the light shine through his window and hides.

"That's no light. It's scary."

"There's nothing to be afraid of Jas. It's only lighting. Lighting is your friend."

"Yeah? So is the darkness all around my room. I don't know which is worse."

"You can use the lighting to shine your room up to push away the darkness Jas."

Josh points it out as Jas slowly and carefully watches. Jason sees the lighting light shine through his room as it brightens it up and Jason is now able to see around his room from the light outside.

"Huh…well it's…kind of cool…"

Josh smiles and stands up.

"You know what we're going to do Jas?', Jas listens in as Josh looks around, 'Were gonna bright up the darkness together…with the lighting outside. What do you say?"

Jason nods happily and Josh claps his hands together.

Present…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh guides his finger around the window as Vanellope continues to listen to Josh's story.

"After that, Jas wasn't scared of lighting no more."

"What is lighting by the way Josh?"

Josh smirks and lifts up his hand. Vanellope watches and suddenly Josh shoots out a bolt right up to the ceiling and Vanellope flinches. Everyone turns their heads at Josh and see what he just did.

"That's what lighting is Vanellope."

Vanellope fixes her composure.

"Oh…well…imagine that if Jas saw you now."

Josh looks at his hand and twirls around the lighting around his fingers.

"Yeah, he'd probably wet his pants."

Josh stands up and suddenly the rain outside stops. Vanellope looks out as well and the clouds move away showing the sun outside.

"Whoa…you were right."

Josh nods.

"I'm always right."

Josh walks out and in front of Ralph.

"Excuse me Ralph; I got to use E.D.I. for a second. E.D.I."

As E.D.I. comes up on the TV, Ralph's program goes away.

"HEY! It was getting good." Ralph yells leaning forward

"I'll record it Ralph. Easy."

Ralph sighs and gets annoyed. Josh shakes his head and looks up at the screen.

"E.D.I., I need your help."

"What would you like me to do?"

Everyone comes to the Living Area.

"I need to find Cyrus."

"Where shall I start looking?"

"Nearby attractions."

"Searching…"

"What makes you think you're going to find him?" Calhoun asks leaning on the couch

Josh looks back.

"You'd be surprised on how I can do things here Calhoun."

"But still, how are you going to find him? He's not just going to let you find him out there just like that." Calhoun states

"I'm not finding him, E.D.I. is."

Everyone looks up at the TV and watch E.D.I. searching.

"E.D.I. can find anything as long as it's connected to the system."

"The system?" Felix asks

"Mostly everything nowadays is all connected; you just have to know where to look if you want to find something. Like the internet."

"What's the internet?" Ralph asks

Josh rubs his eyes and looks around.

"You guys have so much to learn."

"Where do you think Cyrus is going to be?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks serious as E.D.I. still searches.

"Someplace with a lot of people."

The searching still goes on. It happens for a view more minutes and finally E.D.I. finds something.

"I believe I have found something."

"Bring it up E.D.I."

E.D.I. brings up what she found and shows everyone a fair that's going on about twenty minutes down the road.

"A fair? What's a fair?" Vanellope asks

Josh nods seeing why Cyrus might be there.

"Clever. I'll give him that."

Josh stands up and walks around the couch. He picks up his staff along the way and everyone looks at Josh.

"Wait, you're actually going?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks back.

"You're welcome to join me if you want." Josh says with a smile on his face

"You want us to come?" Felix asks

"Yeah, I'll need back up and besides', the four listen in on Josh's explanation, 'It's a fair, games will be there, it should make you guys feel RIGHT at home." Josh says boarding the elevator

Josh waits as the four wonder if they should go. Vanellope walks ahead and joins Josh. The three see it and go along as well. Josh shuts the gates and the five go down.

The Fair…

The five walk down the street hearing the sounds of the fair's music in the distance.

"I think where here." Josh says

The four and see the fair in the distance in a giant park. As the five enter, Josh pays for tickets so he and his friends can enter. He hands them to each of them and looks at them.

"Okay, here's the plan…', the four listen in, 'Felix and Calhoun, you check the far side of the fair, you spot Cyrus, come back to get the rest of us."

"Got it." Calhoun says

"You betcha." Felix says

"Vanellope and I will check the center. Sound good Vanellope?"

"Yep!"

"Hey, what about me? Why am I alone?"

The four look up at Ralph and Josh crosses his arms.

"Well, you're so…big."

"No I'm not."

Josh looks around and sees several people looking up and seeing how big Ralph is. He sighs and drops his arms.

"Stay here at the entrance, incase Cyrus tries to leave."

"What am I supposed to do?" Ralph asks crossing his arms

Josh shrugs with a smile.

"Stand in front of him and sit on him."

The two groups separate leaving Ralph alone at the entrance. Calhoun and Felix check out the fairgrounds looking for Cyrus. They don't spot him and they continue to search. Back with Josh and Vanellope, Josh keeps a keen eye out looking for Cyrus. Vanellope on the other hand just looks at all the fun rides around the fair. In the distance, Vanellope spots something that really attracts her eyes.

"Oh! Look!" Vanellope yells

Josh spins around looking serious; he also looks like he's going to strike.

"What?! What is it?!"

"Racing karts!" Vanellope says running towards them

Josh shakes his head and slides his staff back on his back. He shakes his head and follows Vanellope to the karts. At the ride, Vanellope stands in line and boards one of the karts. Josh just watches as the ride begins to start.

"This is sweet!"

Josh leans against the fence outside the ride.

"Vanellope…', Vanellope turns her head at Josh, 'We have something more important to do, remember?"

"One lap, that's all I'm asking."

Josh sighs and the ride starts. Vanellope starts out last but that doesn't last for very long. She passes all the other kids up and gets in first. Josh just shakes his head seeing Vanellope possible having fun for the first time in her whole life, for real this time. The ride soon ends and Vanellope jumps out of the seat. She runs to Josh with all excitement and cheerful.

"That, that was fun!"

"You seemed to enjoy it."

"One more time?"

Josh sighs.

"Come on Vanellope, we didn't come here to have fun."

"Just one more."

Josh looks around and looks back into the fair grounds. He spots something that catches his attention and Josh walks towards it. Vanellope notices.

"What is it Josh?"

Vanellope follows Josh to a sign post showing an event at the fair. Josh just stares blankly at it and Vanellope sees it as well.

"What Josh?"

"'Come one, come all, see the newest way to change your eyes. See how fast your eye color can change. Presenter: Cyrus'. Cyrus!?"

Josh looks around and runs in the direction of where the event is. Vanellope tries to keep up with Josh but instead goes to find Calhoun, Felix and Ralph. Josh pushes people out of the way looking for Cyrus's event. He sees a giant crowd looking at one event and in the distance spots Cyrus performing on stage. Josh looks serious and without knowing, he starts shooting little bolts of electricity from out of his hands. He takes notice and calms down.

"Excuse me…"

Josh slowly moves through the crowd to the front of the stage. He gently pushes people out of his way as he keeps getting closer and closer. As Josh proceeds, Vanellope, Ralph, Felix and Calhoun make it to the attraction and try to search for Josh.

"You sure he went through here Vanellope?" Calhoun asks

"Yeah, he ran off. He might have found Cyrus." Vanellope answers

"Cyrus, here? Doing what exactly?" Calhoun asks

Vanellope sits down on Ralph's shoulder and looks out ahead. She sees Cyrus on stage performer.

"Doing that."

Calhoun looks closer and sees Cyrus herself.

"Unbelievable…', as Calhoun continues to look, she spots Josh advancing to the stage, 'And there's Josh. Let's go."

The four move through the crowd trying to catch up to Josh. Back with Josh, Josh makes it and he's several yards away from Cyrus. Cyrus continues to perform and spins around at the crowd.

"Thank you, thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming. Who would like to be next? Watch as I gaze around you and magically change your eye color in a snap!"

Josh looks serious at Cyrus and he doesn't notice Josh's presence. A girl raises her hand and gets Cyrus's attention.

"Me! Me! Do me!"

Josh looks over to his left and sees the girl.

"Come up right here young lady!"

The girl runs up stage and sits down in the chair near Cyrus.

"Now, just relax. You might feel a little…pinch."

"Will it hurt?" Girl asks

Cyrus looks funny down at the Girl.

"Well, not…much."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"No, no. Don't do it." Josh whispers to himself

Cyrus walks around in circles around the girl. He does a little stage act and proceeds on with the entertainment. And not knowing, Cyrus scratches the girl and she doesn't even notice.

"Now, watch as her eyes change!"

Everyone looks closer. Josh just stands still. Cyrus picks up mirror and shows it to the Girl.

"You're going to want to see this."

The Girl gazes at the mirror and suddenly her eyes begin to change. She gasps loudly as the crowd sees the Girl's eye change to a different color. A bright orange color. Josh shakes his head and rubs his face.

"There now! See? No tricks! Nothing up the sleeves, it's all in the hands."

_And all in your body jackass…_

Josh shakes his head as Cyrus helps the Girl off stage. Cyrus walks around getting the crowd's attention again. Back with the four, they make it to Josh and stand behind him.

"Now, for my next trick. I will show you something that I'm particular proud of. And the only way to test, I'll need another volun…', Cyrus pauses as he spots Josh in the crowd, 'Josh.', Cyrus whispers to himself as Josh just looks hard at Cyrus, Cyrus remains cool and shakes his head, 'For my next trick. I want a willing volunteer.', Cyrus just mainly looks at Josh, he points, 'How about you young sir?"

The crowd moves away as the wonder who Cyrus is pointing at. A clear line opens and it reveals to be Josh. Josh continues to stand there with his arms crossed looking at Cyrus. Cyrus just keeps on smiling.

"How about it? Want to partake in my trick…sir?"

Josh doesn't say anything but his eyes do. They shine bright showing the electricity inside him is just waiting to pop out. Josh takes a step forward and Calhoun stops him. He looks back at her.

"Josh. Don't."

Josh looks back up at Cyrus.

"Just get ready for anything."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Josh continues on at the crowd claps for him. He walks on stage and just stares at Cyrus. He just acts casually just smiling funny at Josh.

"What's your name young man?"

Josh gulps and crosses his arms.

"Josh."

"Josh huh? Well, would you like to see if your man enough?"

"I am."

The crowd goes 'ooh' and Cyrus backs up.

"I see. You think your man enough?" Cyrus asks walking away

Josh nods.

"Yeah, I am."

Cyrus walks to a button that's near his foot and looks down at it.

"How about now?"

Cyrus hits it and suddenly behind Josh, some curtains roll out and Cyrus's husks come running out at Josh. Josh slowly turns and sees the husks coming at him.

"WHOA!"

Josh jumps back but as the husks make it to him, they stop from the chains linked around their necks. He breathes heavily seeing them and suddenly the crowd laughs. Josh looks at them just…laughing at Cyrus's husks. He slowly stands back up as the four look around at the crowd seeing one of Cyrus's abominations just being laughed at. Cyrus walks to Josh and just stands in front of his husks.

"Not much of a man who gets scared like that', Josh looks pissed off at Cyrus, 'What? Got nothing to say now Josh? Going to do anything about it?', Josh narrows his eyes hard slowly grabbing for his staff, 'Yeah, I didn't think so." Cyrus says walking away

As Cyrus walks away, Josh grabs his staff and Calhoun sees.

"Oh no Josh." Calhoun says pushing people out of her way

Josh holds his staff firmly and looks at the husks.

"I got something for you, you son of a bitch." Josh whispers to himself

Josh looks at the husks and suddenly he swipes the head off of one and the crowd gasps. Cyrus stops and turns around watching Josh take down the other two as they fall apart into a million pieces. The crowd is just silent. Cyrus crosses his arms as Josh points his staff at him. Josh slowly turns his head and sees the crowd just…lost for words. He quickly smiles.

"Uh…don't worry folks! This is just all part of the act!', Josh slowly looks back at Cyrus, 'Right Cyrus?"

Cyrus smirks and drops his hands.

"Yep. It sure is."

The crowd eases up. Josh just twirls around his staff.

"So for MY next trick, watch a lightning bolt shoot out of my staff."

The crowd goes 'ooh'. Cyrus just shakes his head.

"You won't do that Josh. There are so many people around to witness this. Besides, that 'staff' of yours…looks more like a cane."

Josh looks more pissed and the crowd laughs.

"It's…A STAFF." Josh says with a smirk on his face

Suddenly, BOOM! The crowd gasps and flinches seeing a powerful lightning bolt shoot out of Josh's staff and it hits Cyrus hard in the shoulder.

"AHHH!"

Josh slowly lowers his staff and looks at the pain Cyrus is going through. He leans forward.

"Shocking isn't it? Come on Cyrus…', Cyrus looks painfully at Josh, 'Got nothing to say?"

Cyrus breathes slowly and raises his hand.

"I'll let my fingers do all the talking."

Josh narrows his eyes and Cyrus snaps his fingers. Suddenly more husks appear and reform. Josh turns around seeing them. The crowd gets interested but a little worried at the same time. Cyrus watches as Josh fights his husks. He throws his staff into them exploding them into a million pieces. But as Josh fights, his lightning bolts start shooting out uncontrollably. The crowd freaks out and runs for it. Josh takes down the last husk and looks at Cyrus.

"Your next!"

Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope get pushed back by the crowd as they try to make their way towards Josh. But as Josh goes ready to attack Cyrus, the police arrive and stop him before he can even swing.

"FREEZE!" Police Officer yells

Josh stops and slowly turns. He sees several police officers with their guns drawn all aimed at him.

"Put the cane down now!" Police Officer orders

Josh slowly turns at Cyrus and sees him just shrug. He looks pissed and drops the staff. The officers get up on the stage and arrest Josh. As Josh is brought outside the Fair, he looks back and sees his friends following him. Josh looks back and shakes his head. The four back down but continue to follow.

Outside of Fair…

Josh is placed in the back of a police car, handcuffed. The officers talk amongst themselves as one of them finally sticks his head in the through the window.

"You like to explain now that little show you threw on in there?', Josh doesn't say anything and the Officer takes notice, 'Don't want to say anything? Fine."

The Officer walks away. Josh turns his head and sees Cyrus talking to one of the officers asking him he can speak with Josh.

"Sure, go right ahead Sir."

Josh looks more annoyed and throws his head down. Cyrus walks up to the window of the car and looks at Josh all restraint.

"Well, well, isn't this ironic.', Josh bites his lip and slowly looks at Cyrus, 'You just had to show off didn't you? You're lucky Josh, I'll tell you that."

"How am I 'lucky' Cyrus?"

"Because these so called 'law enforcement' people told me I can 'press charges' on you', Josh shakes his head, 'But it's a pity though, I could use these types of people as my puppets. Armed with handguns…also a side arm of my deadly virus. Now that's perfect husk don't you think Josh?"

"I'll get out of here Cyrus. I promise you I will."

"Oh really?"

"You may have gotten out of the game world first but let me tell you this; I know how this world works better then you. So by five 'o' clock, I'll be walking home.

"Hmmm."

Cyrus narrows his eyes and turns around. Josh looks back ahead and the Officers take Josh away in their ride. The four run out of the street seeing Josh disappear in the distance. Back with Cyrus, he walks down the street and tries to come up with a way to slow down Josh even more.

"What the hell am I going to do?"

As Cyrus walks down the street he passes up a newspaper stand. He notices something on one of them the word 'Terrorist'. He grabs the paper and reads a short article about several different law enforcement agencies going after a single man, the F.B.I., D.E.A., U.S. Marshal's, the whole nine yard just to go after a certain person. Cyrus begins to smile at the idea and looks around. Suddenly the man who runs the stand sees Cyrus just standing around.

"Hey, you going to pay for that?"

Cyrus slowly looks up.

"Excuse me?"

"If you're going to read it, pay for it first. Otherwise, get the hell out of here."

"Do you have a communication device?"

The Man looks confused.

"What?"

Cyrus looks serious but hides it. He puts the paper down and places his hands on the newspaper stand.

"I asked you, do you, have a, communication device?"

The Man wonders and nods.

"Yeah?"

"Can I see it?"

"What for?"

"I want to show you something."

The Man nervously reaches for his phone and shows it to Cyrus.

"Here it is…what did you want to show me?"

Cyrus's eyes glow and suddenly, he grabs the Man and he jumps.

"This."

Cyrus takes his phone as the Man falls down and gets infected by Cyrus's virus. He walks away as the Man continues to get more and more infected. Back with Cyrus, he looks at the man's Smartphone and dials into it smiling at it.

"Okay Josh…let's see how far you can get away from this."

As Cyrus looks into the phone. His eyes glow and suddenly his virus gets uploaded into the phone and hacks into the central network. He crawls his way through the system that connects everything to it. But he mainly focuses on Josh's background history at the F.B.I. He makes up false reports, making him the top priority. Done things he hasn't done. Anything that will get the F.B.I.'s attention on it. Cyrus pulls out of the network and puts the phone away.

"This is going to be fun."

Jail Cell…

Josh waits patiently as he just stares straight up at the ceiling. He taps his foot along the bars of the other cell and the occupant gets annoyed.

"Hey! Knock that crap off, it's annoying."

Josh continues and the man gets annoyed.

"Hey! HEY!"

Josh looks down and sees the man getting upset. He holds the bars firmly and Josh slowly stands up.

"Do it one more time." The Man warns

"Or what?"

The Man looks serious and Josh just smiles.

"Just stand like that for a second okay?"

"Huh?"

Josh whips up his finger and touches the bar. The Man feels a strong voltage and gets hard for him to let go. Josh sees what the man is going through and let's go. The Man on the other hand, he lets go of the bar and falls backwards on his back. Josh blows his finger like a gun and sits back. He goes back to tapping the bars with his foot.

F.B.I. Headquarters…

Nathan Winter, a veteran F.B.I. Agent far beyond his years walks to the Chief's office and knocks on the door.

"Come in."

Nathan enters and walks to the Chief's desk.

"You wanted to see me Sir?"

"Have a seat Winter."

Nathan walks over and sits down across from the Chief. He waits patiently as the Chief types on his computer for a few more seconds. Nathan looks to the side and sees a family photograph of him, his wife and daughter. The Chief looks and sees Nathan looking at his family.

"I forget Winter, do you have any family?"

"No Sir. I don't. Single man."

"Well, be happy about that."

"Why's that Sir?"

"Because you don't have a little girl who'd rather play every video game out there then Barbie's."

"I don't follow Sir."

"Video games nowadays are expensive. Playing with dolls on the other hand, a lot more cheaper."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind Sir."

"Uh-huh."

"You wanted to see me Sir?"

"Yes. I called you here because I wanted to congratulate you on that last manhunt you went on."

Nathan smiles.

"Thank you Sir. We had to capture him and put him away."

"How long did it take you to capture him?"

"Um', thinks for a moment, 'eight months."

Chief nods.

"That's right. Right. Are you rested and everything?"

"Yes Sir I am."

"Good. Because I got someone new for you."

"You do? Already?"

"Lots of bad people out there in this world Winter."

"I know that Sir."

"I'll send the records to your computer."

"Yes Sir, I will look over them."

Nathan gets up and leaves. The Chief looks at Winter one more time.

"Winter', Nathan turns around, 'This next one should be easy for you. You shouldn't have to take longer than a day."

Nathan blinks wondering what Chief means by that. He leaves and goes to his desk. Nathan goes to his desk and sits down. He turns on his computer and looks up the records the Chief sent him. He finds the records and nearly falls out of his seat.

"Seriously?"

Nathan looks on his computer of the records of Josh Litwak. He scans his BIO and sees that he's the cause of certain accidents and why certain children are in hospitals. And all other crap that Cyrus has done and is blaming Josh for it.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Nathan types and finds out that Josh is currently being held in a jail cell only ten miles from the department. He looks at his watch and sees that he can make the trip before Josh gets away again.

"It'll take forty five minutes if I leave and get a team together."

Nathan gets up and gets a convey ready to capture Josh.

Back with Josh…

Josh sighs calmly and puts his hands behind his head. He finally gets up and stands up. Josh starts walking back and forth. Getting really annoyed by the time, to Josh it feels like it's been forever since he's gotten in there. Josh looks out the cells window and sees the street outside. As Josh looks around, he spots his friends across the street waiting for him.

"Guys…" Josh whispers to himself

Suddenly one of the officers come by and opens the cell where Josh is in.

"You're free to go."

Josh looks back and looks shocked.

"Really?"

"Yeah, unless you want to stay."

Josh shakes his head.

"No thanks, I'll go."

Josh leaves and the officer closes the cell. As the officer follows Josh, he spots the other man on the floor lying in the other cell.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened here?"

Josh stops and looks at the man in the other cell. The officer looks confused at Josh and he looks back.

"I don't know. I guess he got the shock of things."

The officer narrows his eyes and Josh leaves.

Outside…

Josh walks out the doors of the police station and feels the sun it his face.

"Ahhh…sweet smell of freedom…"

Josh twirls around his staff and his friends across the street spot Josh.

"There he is." Felix says

Everyone sees Josh and Josh waves. As Josh makes it down to the street off the steps, sirens are heard and Josh looks in the direction.

"What the…."

The SUV's swerve and block of Josh's route. F.B.I. Agents come out, guns drawn and Josh just looks confused.

"Really?!"

Nathan walks out and goes up to Josh. Josh just looks all confused and slowly puts his hands up.

"Josh Litwak?', Josh slowly shakes his head, 'No?"

"Wrong person pal."

"Oh really?"

Josh just blinks and Nathan grabs his cuffs.

"Josh Litwak, you're under arrest."

Josh almost loses it.

"For what?!"

"Terrorism against the United States."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"Enough! Don't make this any harder."

Josh sighs really hard as Nathan takes Josh's staff and throws him into the SUV. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun watch helplessly watching Josh being taken away, a second time.

End of Chapter 9….

Preview of Chapter 10…

So now Josh's is considered a 'terrorist'. Why? Well it's written on his records for a number of 'bad' things he's done all his life but we all know that Josh isn't responsible for any of it. So why not tell the truth? Oh wait, how are you supposed to explain to the F.B.I. that the real bad guy is a video game villain from a video game who's come to the real world? Probably not a good idea…So Josh is now in prison and he needs to escape. Maybe Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun can 'bust' him out. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 10 - Fugitive


	10. Chapter 10 - Fugitive

Chapter 10 – Fugitive

Interrogation Room…

Josh sits in a dark room, one light beamed on him with a table in front of him. He's restraint with handcuffs on his wrists with a chain to the chair. Josh tries to remain calm knowing that everything around him is made out of metal. So the slightest anger he gets a shock of electricity will shoot out of him. Josh looks up at the light above his head and closes his eyes. Then suddenly Nathan Winter enters the room. Josh watches as he sits down, puts a cup of coffee to the side and sets down records of Josh.

"Would you like anything? Coffee? Soda?"

Josh doesn't say anything. Nathan takes notice.

"I guess not."

Josh still doesn't say anything. Nathan opens the files and writes on a few pages. Josh notices them and diverts his eyes back up at Nathan.

"What is that?', Nathan continues to write, 'Hey! What is that?"

Nathan stops writing and looks up at Josh.

"Please be quiet, I'm only several inches from you. So, just talk like I am."

Josh remains calm and spins around his head.

"What is that you're writing on?"

"Oh this? This right here is, well, you."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Me?"

"Yes. Right here, is your whole life."

Josh gulps seeing how thick it is.

"It's…pretty big."

"Well yes it is Mr. Litwak. After all you've done, it's no wonder why it's so big."

Josh continues to look confused.

"What I've 'done'?"

"Playing that card now are we?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Whatever it says in there, it's all a lie."

"Oh really? Then why was it sent to me by my Chief?"

"I don't know. I don't run things in the Bureau Mr.?"

"Winter. Special Agent Nathan Winter, F.B.I."

"Special Agent Winter? Really?"

"I don't need to hear any wise cracks about my name Mr. Litwak. I've heard them all."

Josh nods looking dumb.

"Oh, oh right. I can only imagine your co-workers at the water cooler talking about Winter in the middle of Spring."

Nathan looks annoyed and continues on working. Josh just smiles and Nathan opens another file.

"A strange flu going around huh?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Flu?"

"Yeah, lots of children are sick."

Josh gulps.

"I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, the only sickness I'm aware of is all this B slash S going around. I'm pretty sick to it; excuse me, 'fake sneezes really loud, Nathan rubs his ear, 'Sorry. There it goes again."

"So far, there are several hundred kids with the same like symptoms in different hospitals all over the state. I'm surprised this academic hasn't spread out farther yet."

Josh shakes his head.

"I understand that Winter. I really do. I feel sorry for these kids. But I'm telling you, I'm not…"

"Wait, I thought you said you didn't know about this."

Josh bites his lip and thinks really quickly.

"I've been to the hospital recently and had a checkup. I fainted at my families Arcade."

"You had a checkup huh?" Nathan asks looking at a file

Josh looks nervous.

"Uh, yeah, you know. To make sure everything's tip top shape."

"I see. According to your Doctor, you had the same thing.', Josh closes his eyes, 'But that was the day before you went back in for your 'checkup' and were surprisingly, cured."

Josh smiles nervously.

"Miracles can happen."

"Not in this world Mr. Litwak. The only way you can be cured of this unknown virus is that you developed it and accidentally got infected yourself', Josh shakes his head hearing this theory from Nathan, 'And to cover your tracks you had to run in for a checkup is that it?"

"No Nathan, that's not it."

Nathan gets a little annoyed by hearing Josh calling him by his first name.

"That's Special Agent Winter to you Mr. Litwak."

"Okay Spring." Josh says looking around

Nathan gets more annoyed. He stands up.

"Oh, and there's also the other 'checkup' made by your Doctor.', Josh gulps to hearing that, 'Somehow he's filed a law suit against you since you attacked him."

"I didn't attack him, it's called self-defense. Doesn't anyone know what that means anymore?"

"Self-defense doesn't go as far as sedated your Doctor Mr. Litwak." Nathan explains stopping near Josh

Josh looks up.

"I told him something he thought was crazy and he tried to put me in a strait jacket. Sorry, but I don't look good in white."

Nathan shakes his head and walks on. He rolls his eyes and sits back down.

"Hope you look good in orange." Nathan whispers

"Excuse me?"

Nathan sighs.

"You're in big trouble Mr. Litwak. There's a lot here that'll put you away for good for a very, very long time."

"I'm telling you I'm innocent. All that crap there your reading is false."

"Is that right?"

"Yes it is."

"How could it be?"

"When did you receive that report?"

Nathan thinks for a moment.

"This morning."

Josh nods.

"Right. 'This morning'. Would you say that those files right there would make me a top priority to capture and arrest?"

Nathan nods.

"Of course."

Josh smirks and leans forward.

"Now Winter, think very carefully right now', Nathan listens in and Josh looks serious, 'Wouldn't you think, if I've done all this stuff, you would have heard of me before this morning?', Nathan realizes and looks around with his eyes, 'For being such a 'top priority' only hearing about me after this morning, sorry Winter, but you're a little slow on the job."

Nathan looks serious and gets up. Josh looks up.

"Well it doesn't matter now. I caught you and it's over for you."

"It's not over Winter until I say it is."

"From where I'm standing, it looks like it is Mr. Litwak."

Josh sighs.

"So matter what I tell you, you won't believe me huh?"

"What could you possible say to make me believe you; you had nothing to do with any of this?" Nathan asks tapping on Josh's files

Josh shrugs.

"I know who did this to me."

"Oh really? What's his name?"

"Cyrus', Nathan blinks and Josh looks up at him, 'Cyrus, the Virus."

Josh looks very hard at Nathan and clenches his fist. Suddenly the light bulb in the room begins to flicker and Nathan notice. Josh blinks seeing what he's doing and let's go of his fist. The light bulb goes back to normal and Nathan shakes his head.

"You're going to be transported to a maximum security prison."

"Maximum? Is that all?"

"You don't like it? Too bad. Have a nice life Mr. Litwak."

Josh bites his lip and struggles.

_I can't attack…if I do…I'm just going to make things worse for myself…_

Nathan picks up the files and leaves. Several armed guards come in and take Josh away. Josh is put through the works, with screening, finger printing and even having his face taken front ways and sideways. Josh is placed in an armored bus being transported to the prison he's being taken to…

United States Penitentiary Atlanta…

After many hours of traveling, locked in a cage in the center of the bus, Josh looks out his caged bars and sees the prison he's being taken to.

"United States Penitentiary of Atlanta?', Josh looks down at the cuffs he's wearing, 'I'm a long way from home."

The bus pulls in and Josh arrives at the prison.

Inside the Penitentiary…

Josh is guarded by several armed men, in case Josh tries to do anything. He puts through the process of being an inmate to the Penitentiary. He's forced to change clothes and wear an orange jumpsuit. Josh looks down and looks up at the guards.

"No offense, but can I have a different colored jumpsuit. Orange and I don't exactly fit well together."

The Guard just looks down hard at Josh and he sees it.

"Give me some credit for trying."

Josh swallows his pride and changes into the orange jumpsuit. Further inside the Penitentiary, Josh is escorted to his cell. He's welcomed by the other inmates yelling and cheering. Josh ignores them as he's guided to his cell. The guards stand side by side of the door as Josh stands in the middle staring at his cell door.

"Open Cell Door 2-0-1!" Guard yells

Josh watches as the door slides by. He's then pushed in by the guards and the door closes up. Josh looks around at the small cell he's got and sets down the stuff he was given.

"Home sweet home…I guess."

Josh sits down on the bed and feels how uncomfortable it is. He shakes his head and rubs his eyes.

"This is sucks so much."

Suddenly the light in the cell turns off. Josh looks at the light bulb and just stares at it.

Following morning…

Josh sleeps soundly on the bed and all of a sudden an alarm goes off. He slowly opens his eyes and hears the sound of the cell door open up. Josh lifts his head and sees a guard standing out it.

"Get up boy. Breakfast is ready."

Josh blinks and does what the Guard tells him.

Penitentiary Cafeteria…

Josh stands in line with the other inmates getting their breakfast. Several inmates take notice at how young Josh is for being on the inside. Josh grabs a tray and moves down the line. He watches as the prison's food is thrown on his plate. Josh just gulps seeing how…disgusting and half-assed cooked it all is. He keeps his stomach cool from throwing up.

Josh walks out in the Cafeteria and just feels the hundreds of eyes just watching him looking for a table to sit at. He finds a table all by itself and sits alone. As Josh sits down, he looks at the food in front of him and looks around. Josh sees several inmates just looking at him and eyeing him. He shakes his head and ignores them. Josh picks up the spork and digs in to his breakfast. He sniffs the food before he puts it in his mouth.

"Uhh!"

Josh puts the spork back down and decides not to eat his breakfast. He puts his hands to his face and just waits until the breakfast time is over with. Some inmates take notice and see Josh not eating; they get up and walk to Josh. Josh sighs slowly and takes his hands off his face to only see several strong inmate men around him.

"Not eating boy?" Inmate asks

Josh just blinks and looks at the other inmates behind him.

"Rule is you got to finish everything on your plate."

Josh looks down at the food and back up at the Inmate.

"Eat your plate boy."

Josh narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

"No."

"No?"

"You deaf?"

The Inmates around Josh start to look serious. The Inmate before Josh looks pissed and leans forward. Josh doesn't even flinch. The Inmate picks up the food in front of Josh with his bare hands and puts it to Josh's face.

"EAT!"

Josh slaps the food out of his hand and pushes the other two away. A small riot ensues and Josh clenches his fists ready for a fight. The two Inmates behind Josh get ready as the Inmate in front of Josh pulls out a small shiv.

"You should've eaten your food boy."

Josh holds his fists tighter as small currents of electricity ensue. He looks down and at his hands, lookalike brass knuckles form from his hands in the form of the electricity he has in him. The Inmate doesn't see and Josh slowly looks up.

"Walk away now and I promise you I won't send you to the infirmary."

The Inmate looks serious and holds his shiv firmly. Josh gets ready and suddenly protected armed guards storm the Cafeteria. The Inmate hides the shiv and Josh's electric brass knuckles go away. The guards come in and storm the place. They order for the inmates to get on the ground and so does Josh.

Josh's Cell…

Josh waits patiently just staring up at the ceiling. Time seems to be going on forever to what Josh is going through. The light begins to flicker and Josh takes notice. He looks at his hand and points it at the light bulb. A small bolt hits the light and it stays officially on. Josh sighs and looks back up at the ceiling, and then suddenly Josh's cell door opens. He looks up at it.

"Get up, you have visitors."

Josh slowly stands up.

"Visitors?"

"Yeah, your cousin and sister."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"My 'cousin' and 'sister'?"

Penitentiary Visitor Center…

Josh walks in the Visitor Center and sees glass walls everywhere and phones. He looks around for this 'cousin' and 'sister' of his who's visiting him. He walks to the booth he was ordered to and sits down. Suddenly, Calhoun and Vanellope walk up and Josh sees them.

"Calhoun? Vanellope?"

Josh quickly grabs the phone and he shows Calhoun to pick up her phone. Calhoun does and places it between her and Vanellope.

"I was wondering when you two were going to visit."

"How are you Josh?" Vanellope asks

"I'm in jail Vanellope, it's like your fungeon. But a lot worse. By the way', the two listen in, 'Which one of you is my so called 'cousin' and my 'sister'?"

"That would be me. I'm your sister." Vanellope says

"Really? So you're my cousin Calhoun?"

"That was all that was available. I can't pass as your older sister can I?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No. Your far too old.', Calhoun narrows her eyes, Josh then realizes, 'Wait, how did you two find me?"

"We didn't. It was all E.D.I." Vanellope explains

Josh nods to that idea.

"Of course. She knows how to find people that's for sure. Where's Ralph and Felix?"

"Close by. We have a…', Calhoun looks back and sees if anyone's watching, 'we have a plan in progress of getting you…you know." Calhoun says

Josh blinks and moves closer.

"You serious?', Calhoun nods, 'Hold on a second', Josh looks around and grabs the phone's wire, a small shock gets zapped in the phone wire and the guard listening to the conversation only hears static, Josh lets go and back at Calhoun and Vanellope, 'All right, it's safe to talk. Let's do this quick before it gets suspicious."

"We have a plan on getting you out of here Josh." Vanellope explains

"Really?"

"Well, its E.D.I.'s idea', Josh nods knowing that she had to come up with it, 'But you can see she's limited to access to the real world Josh."

"Ha, ha. What's the plan?"

"They plan on transferring you out of here tomorrow night." Calhoun states

"Again? Where?"

"Some type of supermax prison." Calhoun answers

Josh shakes his head and puts it down.

"Of course. Why am I not surprised?"

"Well here's the fun part of it Josh." Vanellope says

"How's any of this fun Vanellope?"

"Because this it he part where you're going to escape."

"How? I'm going to be in a locked bus. A heavily armored bus."

"We got that covered Josh. When you see flashing lights, brace yourself." Calhoun explains

"Are you serious?"

"Do I look serious?"

"Why am I going to have to brace myself?"

"Because Ralph's going to take care of the rest." Calhoun states

Josh nods.

"Oh, I see. I know something is going to happen. And when it involves Ralph, it's going to probably hurt."

"Josh, just leave everything to us and will get you back home."

"I don't know Calhoun. Escaping is just going to make me look more guilty."

"Do you want to stay in here for the rest of your life while Cyrus is out here?"

Josh nods and looks serious.

"Of course."

"Just try and make it another day in here Josh. Will be back home before you know it." Vanellope explains

Josh sort of smiles at Vanellope and suddenly a guard comes by and takes Josh away.

"Time's up." Guard says

Josh gets lifted up and pushed out of the Visitor's Center. Calhoun and Vanellope watch as Josh is taken back into the prison.

Later, Josh's Cell…

Josh lies completely still on the bed just staring up at the ceiling. The light is off and Josh looks up at it. Josh looks serious up at it and turns his hand into a gun and throws down his thumb. A strong bolt hits the light bulb and it explodes off the ceiling. Josh looks down at his hand and just sees the electricity is shooting around his hand without his knowing.

_It's building up inside me…If I don't let some of it out soon…it's just going to come out whether I like it or not…_

Following Day…

Josh stands tall in his cell looking out through the small window in the cell. The door opens and a guard stands out telling Josh breakfast is ready.

"Breakfast time. Get out', Josh doesn't move and the guard grabs his taser, 'Get out now."

Josh slowly turns and sees the taser in the guard's hand. He softly smiles and steps out.

Penitentiary Cafeteria…

Josh waits in line like he did yesterday. He gets his food and goes to a table and sits alone all by himself. The Inmates from yesterday see Josh again sitting alone. Josh stares at the food on his tray and looks across the room and spots the Inmates from yesterday. They watch furiously, Josh just looks down at his food, picks up his spork and pushes the tray ahead. The Inmates look at each other and get up. Josh sees them walking and he gets ready.

Holding the spork in his hand, the current of electricity sticks to it making it electrified. The Inmates get closer and Josh grabs the tray. The head Inmate from yesterday with the shiv walks in front and to Josh. The other two go around Josh. Then all of a sudden, Josh throws his tray into the main Inmate. While he's distracted, Josh gets up and sticks the Inmate on his left with the spork so it stays in him. The other Inmate attacks and Josh touches him, paralyzing him.

The other Inmates in the room go nuts and another riot breaks out. An alarm sounds and guards storm in the room. Josh grabs the other Inmate and throws him on the other with the spork stuck on him. The two get electrocuted and just pass out on each other. Josh looks at the last Inmate and wipes his face off from the food. The Inmate sees Josh standing before him looking hard at him.

"Your dead kid!"

The Inmate pulls out his shiv and Josh doesn't even flinch. He runs at Josh and Josh just points his hand at him. A powerful bolt of lightning shoots out of Josh's hand and hits the metal shiv in the Inmates hand. The Inmate feels the powerful bolt of electricity running through his body and Josh walks calmly to him. The Inmate suffers more of the attack the second Josh touches him and all the electricity goes back into Josh. The Inmate slowly looks up at Josh, shaking to death.

"What…are you?"

Josh narrows his eyes and pushes the Inmate back with his hand.

"Your worst nightmare."

The Inmate falls back and Josh claps his hands. As Josh turns around, he sees he's surrounded by the prison's guards, all dressed up in riot gear. Josh crosses his arms and just stares at them all looking hard at him.

"Get down on the ground, now!" Guard orders

Josh doesn't even flinch. The Guard looks at his fellow men and instructs one of them to move ahead and subdue Josh. The Guard agrees and walks ahead. He pulls out his taser gun and points it at Josh. Josh sees it and shakes his head with a small smile.

"Get on the ground, now!" Guard orders

Josh looks hard at the Guard and he shoots the taser at Josh. The spikes fly and hit Josh. Josh feels the effects of the taser but soon, starts absorbing the energy from it. The Guard pushes more juice into Josh expecting him to fall on his knees, but instead Josh grabs the spikes that have pushed hard onto his chest and absorbs more energy from the taser. The Guard struggles as Josh yanks the taser out of his hand and pushes more energy from the taser into him.

"AHHHHH!" Josh yells

The energy from the taser runs out and Josh forcefully pulls the spikes out of his chest and throws the taser down on the ground. The Guards look awkwardly at Josh and he just raises his hands.

"Anyone else want to shoot me? More energy the better."

The Guards look at each other and Josh looks up at several of the lights up on the ceiling. Josh clenches his fists and suddenly they all start to flicker. The Guards see and Josh closes his eyes. Suddenly each light fixture explodes and sparks go everywhere. The Inmates and Guards take cover and Josh just spins around exploding all the lights in the room. He opens his eyes and slowly sits down.

"I feel so much better."

The Guards see and the coast is clear. They grab Josh and put him down in the Hole.

Later, Inside the Hole…

Josh sits in the corner with his legs crossed waiting to get out. Suddenly the door opens and the Warden walks in. Josh turns his head and keeps his hands together from the cuffs still on him.

"Well, well. Good evening Mr. Litwak." Warden says

Josh gulps and remains still.

"Quite the show you threw on down in my cafeteria."

"I am to please."

"So, you did have something to do with the lights exploding?"

"I cannot either confirm or deny that accusation."

"Well, whether you did it or not, you're in much bigger trouble young man.', Josh sighs and shows that he doesn't care what the Warden says, 'You placed three inmates in the infirmary."

"They attacked me first."

"We have footage that they did no such thing."

"Then look at yesterday's taps. I defended myself."

"Defending yourself doesn't go as far putting three men with seizures in the hospital."

"I didn't give them seizures. They'll just have minor brain damage up in their heads. Nothing they can't handle. But don't worry; they'll live long enough to carry out their sentences for the rest of their lives."

"Did you enjoy your stay here Mr. Litwak?"

"Honest answer?"

"Why not."

"Terrible. I've stayed at worse."

"Well don't get to comfortable. By the F.B.I., your being transferred over to a supermax tonight', Josh sort of smiles hiding that he's doing that, remembering what Calhoun and Vanellope told him about the transfer, 'So tonight, your no longer going to be here in my prison causing harm to my inmates."

"You think I'm that dangerous?"

"Anyone who comes in here or gets transferred to a supermax is either a criminal or a monster. Don't you agree Mr. Litwak?"

Josh gulps and looks down. The Warden turns around and fixes his glasses.

"See you in another life Mr. Litwak."

Josh clenches his fist and suddenly the electric lock malfunctions. The Warden types the passcode in and sees that it's not working.

"Huh. That's odd."

Josh looks up at the Warden and stares from behind. His eyes glow bright blue and suddenly the electric lock breaks apart shooting out electricity.

"Whoa!"

The Warden watches as the lock malfunction's like crazy. Josh sighs and let's go of his fist. The door clicks and it opens. The Warden fixes his glasses and turns around at Josh just seeing him sit there thinking that maybe, he was somewhat responsible for doing that.

Later that night…

Outside the Penitentiary…

Josh is cuffed and shackled being transported to the armored bus. Inside, he's pushed inside the cage in the middle and several armed guards sit around. The bus pulls out of the prison and down the dark road ahead. Behind, a dark Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck follows from behind with Ralph in the bed.

Back with the Armored Truck…

The bus drives nice and easy transferring Josh. Josh just sits patiently inside the small cage he's in and looks out the windows. One of the guards spots Josh looking out the window and sort of smiles.

"Enjoy the view while it lasts', Josh looks over at the guard, 'Because where your heading, it's going to be dark all the time."

Josh rolls his eyes and looks back down at his hands. The same Guard looks over and picks up Josh's staff and examines it.

"Now…what would a cold hard criminal be doing with a cane, hm?"

Josh looks up and sees the Guard playing around with his staff. He closes his eyes, looks very annoyed and tilts his head.

"A staff…it's…a…STAFF."

"Whatever you want to call it, it looks like a cane to me."

Josh sighs really hard.

"Of course it does, you'll be needing one later in life right?"

The Guard gets a little annoyed and gets up. He walks to Josh and stands right outside his cage.

"You think your funny don't you?"

Josh shrugs.

"I'm here all the way to the supermax right?"

"Smart ass."

"As my father always said when I was little."

The Guard gets a little bit annoyed. He looks up and sees the water sprinklers inside the bus on the ceiling.

"Saw some footage of what you did inside the cafeteria…', Josh leans back inside the cage, 'You seemed to get off on electricity huh?"

Josh sort of smirks and looks up at the Guard with his eyes.

"You have no idea."

"Well listen in Shocky…', Josh rolls his eyes by that nickname, 'This bus is equipped with its own sprinkler system.', Josh looks up past the cage and sees the sprinklers for himself, 'One hit of the switch, I don't think water and electricity mix well together…don't you agree?"

Josh nods with a dumb look on his face. The Guard smiles happily spinning Josh's staff around. Josh leans forward and looks serious.

"Just so you know…when the water hits my body…and if the sprinkler system goes off throughout the whole bus….you, every other guard and the driver will get shocked too…', the Guard's smile slowly goes away realizing that, 'I thought I just let you know. So brace yourself when you're ready to push that button."

The Guard looks somewhat worried and goes back down to sit down. Josh shakes his head seeing how stupid the Guard is looking. He leans back in the chair and sighs softly. Outside the bus, the truck speeds on ahead of the bus flashing its lights.

"What the hell?" Bus Driver asks

Josh looks over and hears honking and a truck flashing its lights. He blinks slowly and fastens his seatbelt. The truck speeds ahead and the Bus Driver gets comfortable again.

"Damn kids these days; don't know how to drive worth of shit."

Josh clears his throat and sits back. A mile up down the road from the bus, several sections of the road seemed to be smashed in by giant fists. The Bus Driver comes up to it and the whole entire bus shakes.

"What, the, hell!?" Guard shouts

"There's holes in the entire road!" Bus Driver yells controlling the bus

Josh gulps and fastens the seatbelt tighter. Further down the road, the Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck remains parked on the side of the road waiting for the bus to come. Vanellope rolls down the window and looks back. In the backseat, Felix spins around his hammer and looks out back through the back window. Calhoun, kneeling down in the bed looks down the road and sees the lights of the bus coming.

"Get ready, it's coming."

Ralph walks out behind the pickup truck and cracks his knuckles.

"It's wrecking time."

Back on the bus, Josh looks around wondering when this 'escape' is going to happen. So he continues to sit tight. The bus gets closer and closer to where Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope are at. The Bus Driver looks closer and sees a strange figure in the distance.

"What the hell is that?" Bus Driver asks

Josh prepares as the bus gets closer and Ralph walks out.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!"

Ralph punches the front of the bus and the Bus Driver swerves.

"WHOA!" Bus Driver yells

The Bus swerves and falls off the side of the road. Ralph sees.

"Whoops…"

The four rush to the side and see the bus roll down the hill. Inside the bus, the Guards and Josh keep rolling around as the bus continues to flip up and down over and over again. Josh on the other hand has it easy but the cage is just so close around him he bobbles up and down and slams his head hard into the side. The bus continues to roll and finally it lands down on some even ground below.

The bus is a total mess. Its frame is bent sideways, the windows are all cracked and the cage Josh is in is cracked and bent out of shape. Josh sees it and climbs out of it. He falls on the ground and sees the guards from the bus barely alive. They've sustained serious injuries of the crash. Josh stands up and sits up straight. One Guard rubs his head and looks to the side, he sees his friend with a piece of metal sticking out of his side.

"Oh Christ!" The Guard yells

The Guard rushes to his friend and looks to the side and sees Josh out rubbing his head.

"Hey! HEY KID!', Josh looks and sees the Guard calling for him, 'Give me hand! My buddies hurt!"

Josh looks and sees the injured Guard. He looks down at his cuffs and restraints.

"Give me the keys', the Guard looks funny at Josh and he looks more serious, 'You want my help? GIVE ME THE KEYS!"

The Guard reaches down in his pocket and pulls out the key, he tosses them to Josh and he catches him. The Guard attends to his friends wounds.

"Don't worry; you're going to be okay."

Josh takes the cuffs and shackles off. As Josh gets up and walks to help the guards, a train horn is heard and Josh stops. Josh looks around and out the bus's window. Far down away from the bus, an oncoming train comes directly into view of the bus. As the bus rolled, it landed on top of a set of train tracks.

"What the hell is that noise?" Guard asks

Josh points.

"That."

The Guard looks and sees the train coming from down the track. The Guard slowly backs up, the Guard on the ground with the piece of metal sticking out of him; he pulls it out and yells in pain.

"AHHH! SHIT!"

The Guard standing up slowly moves back and away. Josh goes to the injured Guard and kneels down next to him.

"Help me with your friend.', Josh looks and sees the Guard leaving, 'HEY! HELP ME!"

"Like hell I will!"

The guard kicks out the windshield of the bus and jumps out. Josh looks back and sees another guard that made it jump out the back of the bus.

"HEY! Your friend!"

"See you in hell boy!" Guard yells jumping out the back

Josh looks down at the injured Guard and helps him up.

"Just hold on, hang onto me!"

Josh helps the Guard up and gets him to the front of the bus. Down the track, the train gets closer and closer. As Josh pushes the gate away so the two get to the front. The man grunts hard from the pain and Josh sees.

"Just hang on!"

"My side! It hurts!"

Josh sees the piece of metal and grabs it.

"Sorry about this."

Josh starts to pull on it and the Guard grunts hard. As Josh pulls it out, the electricity inside him shoots out and around the pull. The Guard gasps as Josh pulls out the metal piece from him. The Guard passes out and Josh sees.

"Whoops…"

The train gets closer and closer. Josh leans the Guard out the window and…pushes him out.

"Sorry about that!"

The Guard falls down and rolls down the small hill away from the bus. Josh climbs out the window as well. Down the tracks, the train takes sight of what's in front of it. It blares its horn and Josh sees, but right before he jumps, he sees his staff glowing right behind him. Josh sees the train and looks back at his staff. He quickly tries to reach for it as the train draws closer and closer. Josh sees his staff only an inch away from his grasp.

"COME ON!"

The train slams on its brakes as its only yards away. Josh finally manages to grab his staff and looks down the tracks and sees the train's lights flashing on his face.

"WHOA!"

Josh jumps and the train hits the bus. He lands on the ground as the train smashes into the bus yards down the track. Josh quickly stands up and sees the bus yards away from him down the track.

"That was to close…"

Josh kicks up his staff and starts to walk as the train continues to stop. As Josh walks, his leg reveals to have a cut on it and Josh grabs it.

"Ow!"

Josh looks down and sees the cut. He starts to walk ahead and limps. But back behind Josh, pieces off the bus remain below on the track as the train passes over them. The force from the train knocks up a piece right onto the track. Several cars behind the front engine jump the track and are on a one way track towards Josh. Josh looks back and sees a train engine following right behind him.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Josh runs but limps hard. The train chases behind Josh and Josh quickly tries to stay ahead of it without getting killed. Up ahead, he sees a small bridge with a big enough gap below it. Josh runs to it as the train catches up. The train gets right behind Josh and finally he jumps down into the gap as the train flies across the hole. It crashes hard in the dirt and Josh climbs below the bridge for cover. The train crashes and the cars that it was pulling goes all over the place.

The destruction goes on for a little bit longer and suddenly, it's all quiet. Josh slowly raises his hands off his head and hears everything is quiet. He sees everything is quiet and not moving. Josh gulps and pushes himself up. He uses his staff as a cane and makes a face about it.

"However you see it, it's still a staff people."

Josh reaches the hill that the bus rolled down of and starts climbing it. It's a little hard for him so he digs his hands into the dirt and climbs. Josh looks back and sees the destruction of the train and bus. As Josh turns, he sees a hand in front of him and jumps.

"WHOA!"

"Take my hand." Felix says

Josh shakes his head and sees Felix being roped down by Ralph and Calhoun to reach Josh. He slowly grabs it and Felix nods.

"Pull!"

Ralph pulls the three up and they make it back to the road. Josh walks slowly and his vision is kind of off. Calhoun walks up to him.

"Anything broken?" Calhoun asks

Josh almost says something but suddenly he drops.

"Hey!"

Calhoun catches him and helps him stand up.

"Let's get him into the car. Move!" Calhoun orders

Vanellope hops into the driver's seat and Calhoun places Josh in the backseat with Felix. Calhoun takes the passenger seat next to Vanellope and Ralph jumps into the bed in back.

"Go Vanellope." Calhoun says

Vanellope turns the wheel around and drives away from the accident. In the backseat, Josh is half way out of it and holds his leg tightly.

"Ah!"

Calhoun looks back and sees the cut on Josh's leg.

"Felix, can you do something about that?"

Felix lifts up his hat and sees the wound on Josh. He grabs his hammer and looks at it.

"I can try."

Felix looks at the wound of Josh and softly bangs his hammer on it. As Felix does this, the cut and Josh's ripped pants go away and return back to normal. Felix sees this and gets happy.

"It worked! My hammer works!"

"Vanellope, can you get us back to Josh's place?" Calhoun asks

"I can try; I think I know where it is."

"'Pretend' it's the finish line."

Vanellope shakes her head nervously and Calhoun sees.

"Vanellope', Vanellope turns and looks at Calhoun, 'Josh is going to be alright."

Vanellope sort of smiles and looks back at the road. She uses long sticks to reach the pedals while sitting on some books to keep her elevated with the road. As the pickup truck drives down the road, fire engines and ambulances pass the pickup and Vanellope looks back seeing that the cars are going to the crash site. Vanellope looks back at the road and takes everyone back to Josh's Apartment.

Later…

Josh's Apartment…

The five arrive back at Josh's Apartment. Calhoun carries Josh over her shoulder and up to the Apartment. They get off the elevator and Calhoun places Josh on the couch.

"Felix, find something for Josh to drink."

"On it."

"Vanellope, get E.D.I. and ask her to help us with Josh's condition."

"Okay."

"Ralph."

"Yeah?"

"Just stand there and don't wreck anything else all right?"

Ralph sighs. Felix comes back with a bottle of water for Josh to drink. Calhoun takes it and opens it up. Vanellope turns on E.D.I. and she responds.

"I take it that the mission was a success?"

"More or less E.D.I. Ralph punched the bus so hard that it rolled down a hill."

"I didn't hit it that hard Calhoun."

"Then why did it roll down a hill on a set of train tracks which a train was riding on?"

"The train part is not my fault. Whoever was driving, that's their fault. I punched it hard enough so it would stop."

"You still punched it to hard Ralph." Felix states

"You too Felix?"

"Shh! Everyone. Josh? Josh, can you hear me?" Calhoun asks

Josh is still out of it. Calhoun opens the bottle up and pours some down his throat. Josh starts to wake up and spits out some of the water.

"There we go." Calhoun says

Josh coughs and looks around the room, halfway out of it.

"Josh?" Calhoun asks

"Huh?"

"If you may Calhoun, stand aside. I will run a scan on his body to find out what's wrong."

Calhoun stands aside and E.D.I. runs her scan. Josh slowly starts to wake up and E.D.I. completes the scan.

"According to my scan, Josh has suffered a minor head injury. A concussion may have appeared but he seems to be coming out of it."

Vanellope jumps on the couch and walks to Josh.

"Josh?"

Josh blinks a couple times seeing Ralph, Felix and Calhoun in front of him.

"Guys…?" Josh whispers

The three look relaxed and Josh turns his head seeing Vanellope.

"Vanellope?"

"You alive?"

Josh gulps and looks up at the ceiling.

"If Calhoun's here, I must be dead."

Vanellope smiles and covers her mouth. Calhoun shakes her head and Ralph and Felix ease up. Josh leans forward and coughs a little.

"Okay…I just have one…very important question to ask all of you."

"What is it?" Vanellope asks

"Did Ralph punch the bus?"

Ralph spins around and everyone looks at him. Calhoun looks back at Josh.

"Yeah, he was the one."

Josh nods.

"I knew it. Thanks Ralph."

"Uhh…no problem Josh."

"Next time though, go a bit easier."

"I'll, I'll try."

Josh gets comfortable.

"Good."

Josh feels his leg and notices his cut is gone.

"What happened to my leg? I had a cut there."

"I fixed it for you." Felix says spinning his hammer around

Josh looks at Felix and smiles.

"Nice to know your hammer's working again."

"What else can I fix? I can fix anything."

Josh puts his hands up.

"Not now Felix. Right now, I need to rest." Josh says leaning back

The four stand by for anything Josh might need. He sighs slowly and closes his eyes.

Back at the crash site…

Everyone's at work trying to clean up the disaster. Back by the roads near the crash site, F.B.I. SUV's pull in and stop by the disaster. Among the many of them, Nathan steps out and sees the train disaster in person.

"My, oh my look at all this."

Nathan walks ahead as the county sheriff questions one of the survived guards about the inmate.

"Tell us exactly what happened now." Sheriff asks

"Well, it happened so fast it's hard to recall."

"Take your time."

Nathan makes it to the scene and just watches.

"Well, my friend over there had a piece of metal sticking out of him. I couldn't leave him behind so I picked him up and got him out of the bus before the train crashed into it."

"That's a brave thing you did. You're a hero."

"He would have done the same thing for you. I know that for sure."

Nathan narrows his eyes listening to the story.

"And what about the inmate you were transferring, did he make it?"

The Guard hesitates to the question and just shakes.

"Well I don't know, it happened way to fast. I don't think he survived."

"Okay, thank you for your statement."

"Umm, excuse me; I have a few questions I like to ask you sir."

The Sheriff sees Nathan.

"And who are you?"

"Special Agent Nathan Winter, F.B.I. I was in charge of the prisoner's arrest. I just came down when I heard the bus crashed."

"Well sorry Special Agent Winter, it seems like you came all the way down here for nothing."

Nathan looks funny at the Sheriff.

"I don't know Sheriff, maybe I did, and maybe I didn't. I'm a glass half full kind of guy.', sits down next to the Guard, 'So tell me, you think he's dead?"

"Ah…I think so."

"You 'think' so. It's either a yes or no."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll ask you again, is he dead, yes or no?"

The Guard hesitates and gulps.

"I don't know."

"Then he's alive?"

"Maybe."

"Then he's dead."

"I don't know."

"Quit wasting my time and tell me if he's dead or alive."

"I'm telling you Fed I don't know."

Suddenly one of the cleanup crew brings up the cuffs and shackles that were around Josh at the time of the accident. Everyone sees it and Nathan grabs those.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh! Look at what we got here', the Guard sees them and flinches, 'You know I love magic tricks. Especially the kind that a dangerous terrorist is supposed to be wearing when there's no body in them."

"Uhh…"

"So, is he dead, or alive?"

The Guard gulps and starts to sweat.

"And how did he get the key to the cuffs? I doubt that he just took them when you rescued your friend. Well?"

The Guard looks down ashamed.

"He's alive."

"I knew it." Nathan says with a smirk getting up

"Excuse me?! You said he was dead a second ago!" Sherriff yells

"Everyone! Can I have your attention please! Everyone over here!" Nathan orders

Several people from different law enforcement agencies gather around Nathan as he gets their attention so he can speak.

"As of right now, our fugitive has been free for the past four hours! If he's sustained injures from this crash I want every hospital in a fifty mile radius checked out looking for our fugitive. I want his face up on every kind of transportation out of the state. Bus stations, train stations, airports and even taxi places. I want a hard target search between here and every known law enforcement department in the state. I don't want him thinking he's got away and start a new life all over again. Get everyone on this', Nathan clears his throat and sees everyone looking at him, 'Your terrorists name is Josh Litwak. Find him."

Everyone walks away and Nathan turns around at the disaster. He looks down at the cuffs and shackles and stares hard at them.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh continues to relax on the couch. Everyone sits around just watching TV. Josh yawns and relaxes again. Suddenly E.D.I. comes up on screen.

"Excuse me Josh, I'm sorry to disturb you while you're resting."

"Hmm? What is it E.D.I.?" Josh asks with his eyes still closed

"I found something that you might want to see."

"Can you record it? I'll watch it later."

"I'm sorry, I will not."

Josh opens his eyes seeing E.D.I. not taking by his command.

"Excuse me?"

"You want to see this."

Everyone watches and Josh narrows his eyes. E.D.I. changes the channel and she brings up the news channel of the bus crash.

"Hey look! It's the bus!" Vanellope points out

"I'm not surprised that it's on TV already." Josh says

The scene changes and a news woman is shown on screen.

"What's going on?" Ralph asks

"Everyone be quiet. E.D.I., turn up the TV." Josh orders

E.D.I. turns up the TV and the newswoman speaks.

"Several hours ago, a routine transfer went horrible wrong. Only one causality and several other guards wounded', Josh nods remembering the one he saved, 'The transfer though was transporting a dangerous criminal.', Josh throws his head up at the TV, 'His name: Josh Litwak."

Everyone in the room slowly turn their heads at Josh. Josh just stares blankly up at the TV.

"Josh Litwak was arrested by F.B.I. Agent Nathan Winter the day before. He was incarcerated and escaped when the bus lost control on the road. Josh Litwak is considered highly dangerous and is very confused. A powerful terrorist setting his eyes only one thing, harming others. If seen, please call 9-1-1 as soon as possible."

Josh slowly clenches his fist and everyone sees.

"Josh?" Vanellope asks

As Josh clenches his fist, several lights in the room flicker. Josh even gets more upset when his photograph and camera footage of him doing what he did at the prison and fair are shown on national TV. Suddenly Josh gets up and walks quickly to the Bathroom.

"Josh? Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh runs into the Bathroom and closes the door. Everyone watches and wonders what Josh is doing in there. In the Bathroom, as Josh walks in the lights turn on without him even hitting the switch. Josh walks right up to the sink and looks straight down at it. He slowly raises his head and stares at himself in the mirror.

_Have you ever been called a terrorist? Well I just recently have…_

Josh looks down at the corner of the sink and sees a clipper nearby. He looks serious at it and slowly grabs it. As Josh grabs it, the current in his body automatically turns it on. Josh just hears the Zzzz sound coming off of it and looks at his reflection in the mirror. He mainly looks at his long hair on the top of his head.

_I have to do it…_

If he doesn't change his appearance, people will recognize him off the spot like that. Josh slowly puts the clippers to his head and starts shaving. Chunks of his hair fall off and land in the sink.

A little while later…

Josh opens the door of his Bathroom and the lights turn off. He walks out into the Apartment and sees everyone in the Living Room. Josh walks and his footsteps are heard by everyone. As everyone turns around, they see Josh's new hairstyle. Short hair is now on top of his head. Josh feels his hair and looks at everyone.

"How…How do I look?"

Everyone looks at each other and back at Josh.

"It's…different." Vanellope states

Josh nods.

"Good."

Josh walks to the couch and leans forward. He looks up at the TV and sees his parents being interviewed on TV about his current situation. Josh just lowers his head seeing how everything, his whole life is falling apart…by Cyrus's hand.

End of Chapter 10

Preview of Chapter 11…

There's got to be a reason, right? Why Cyrus is doing this…there's got to be an answer. There's got to be…a PLOT! Any kind of video game has a plot. It has a start and a finish. A beginning and an ending. So there's got to be one for _Cyrus the Virus._ And that's what Josh has to find out to finally get some answers. And also, Josh has to stay on his toes knowing every kind of law enforcement agency is looking for him. Next time Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 11 – A Shocking Story


	11. Chapter 11 - A Shocking Story

Chapter 11 – A Shocking Story

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's Room…

Josh sits at the corner of his bed just looking down at his staff. He twirls it around and lets the bottom of it hit the floor. Josh picks it up slowly and drops it. He repeats this routine a few times…picking up the staff and dropping it. Josh just hears the sound of his staff hitting the floor several times…and finally, Josh feels his head from the hair cut he's recently given himself.

"Now I know how Cole McGrath feels…" Josh says rubbing his head

Josh looks at his Bedroom door and leaves.

Living Room…

Josh walks quietly out into the Living Room and sees everyone asleep. Ralph's just sleeping on the floor while Vanellope sleeps on his stomach. Josh looks over and sees Calhoun sleeping on the couch, while Felix sleeps on top of her. He shakes his head with a small smirk on his face and walks to the TV. Josh grabs a chair and quietly pulls it in front of the TV and sits down. Suddenly a machine turns on and sits straight up behind Josh's head. He closes his eyes and the machine moves forward, an exposed wire is shown and touches Josh's head. Josh flinches and he's sucked into his hard drive.

Hard Drive…

From the TV perspective, you can see everything Josh is doing. He's connected his hard drive to the TV so anyone from the outside can see Josh through the TV screen. Kind a like a video game. Back inside the Hard Drive. Josh walks around looking for E.D.I., he leans against his staff.

"E.D.I.?"

E.D.I. walks up behind Josh and he doesn't respond.

"Yes Josh?"

Josh finally spins his head around and sees E.D.I.

"Hi E.D.I., listen, I need you to do a couple things for me."

E.D.I. walks ahead and looks at her screens.

"Sure thing. What would you like for me to do first?"

Josh follows E.D.I.

"Well, first things first, I wanted to say, thank you."

E.D.I. stops and turns around. She stares at Josh with a lost expression.

"A gratitude. For me?"

Josh nods.

"Yes E.D.I."

"On occasion you say 'Thank you' to me, but analyzing your voice pattern, this 'Thank you' seems different."

Josh smiles and looks down.

"It is E.D.I."

"Why? I must ask."

Josh looks around the empty black space around him. He takes a deep breath through his nose and looks back at E.D.I.

"Because E.D.I., you had a choice to either leave me to rot in the state pen or bust me out. You chose to bust me out."

"Of course Josh, I had to."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"'You had to'? E.D.I., we've been over this. You make your own decisions."

"I know that. For the reason 'I had to', is because if you're not around, who else am I going to talk to? Your friends?"

Josh slowly starts to smile and E.D.I. just looks away at her screens. He starts to chuckle and walks up to E.D.I.

"E.D.I. take note that this is possibly your best joke I've ever heard from you ever."

"Noted. Logged.', Josh nods, 'What else is there?"

The two start to walk around the infinite space.

"I need you to find any records that you have of this placed that are connected to me."

"I will do as you ask, but why I must ask."

Josh sighs and rubs his face. He looks down with an annoyed look.

"Given my current situation, that F.B.I. guy is going to do everything he can to find me. I remember writing my name out to a lease of this place. I need you to erase it or put down a different name. It won't be long before the feds come ringing my doorbell."

"As you wish. Anything else?"

Josh eases up a bit and finally stops. E.D.I. continues to walk and finally takes notice that Josh has stopped. She turns around and sees Josh staring at the floor.

"Josh?"

Josh clenches his fist and looks at E.D.I. with a calm look.

"Can you find my parents?"

"Your parents?"

Josh walks to E.D.I.

"I…I saw them on TV…I saw how…', Josh pauses and grabs his throat, he loses the words to speak, E.D.I. takes notice, 'Can you find them for me?" Josh asks breaking up at the end

E.D.I. just nods.

"Of course Josh."

E.D.I. walks ahead and searches for Josh's parents. Josh takes a deep breath and looks around. He sniffs and without knowing, a tear comes out of his eye and it hurts him.

"Ow.', Josh touches his face and feels the tear on his face, he moves his hand back and sees the water coming out of his eye, the electricity from his body shoots around the water causing Josh to flick his hand and to dry the water off his finger and face, 'I can't even cry for crying out loud."

"I have found your parents Josh."

Josh looks at E.D.I. from behind and goes to her.

"Let me see. Let me see E.D.I."

E.D.I. stands aside and Josh pulls the screen right in front of him. On screen, he watches camera footage of both his parents inside an interrogation room being questioned by authority figures.

"_I'm telling you, this is all a lie! I know my son; he's never done anything you showed me!" _Mr. Litwak yells

Josh watches as the authority figure continues to press hard on his parents. Mrs. Litwak looks a little upset as Mr. Litwak is pushing hard to defend his son.

"_Let me tell you something Mr. Litwak, your son has done a lot of things. Terrible things. The more you cooperate, the more it will be easier on you." _

"_For the hundredth time, my son hasn't done any of this! I think I would know, he would never do this!"_

"_Mr. Litwak…"_

"_Go to hell!"_

"_Mr. Litwak! Calm down!"_

Josh pushes the screen away and rubs his face. E.D.I. just watches Josh's facial expressions of seeing his parents being put through such treatment.

"Where are they now?" Josh asks spinning around

"According to records, they were placed in holding cells."

"Together?"

"No. They are separate."

Josh sighs.

"Anything else E.D.I.?"

"I also found that the F.B.I. are searching through your parents' home."

Josh shakes his head with a complete lost look on his face.

"My-My-My parents' home?! Why?!"

"I believe it's to find some kind of connection to what has been done."

Josh starts to get a little pissed.

"Well there not going to find anything, make up some type of report to send them home! It's not my parents they want, it's me!"

Josh walks away walking in circles. E.D.I. just watches as Josh gets angrier, the more charge he sets off. As Josh walks around, the current from his body starts shooting out without his knowing.

"That F.B.I. guy, what-what was his name again? Spring something, no, no. Not Spring', Josh thinks for a moment and remembers, he snaps his thumb which shoots out a bolt, E.D.I. tilts to avoid it, 'Winter! Son of a bitch's name is Winter! If he wants to try and find me, he's welcomed to. But if he doesn't leave my parents alone, I'm going to shoot a lightning bolt so far up his ass he'll no longer need to pay an electric bill."

"Josh."

"The nerve of that guy, my parents are completely innocent. I'm also innocent but no one's going to believe me anyway."

E.D.I. clears her throat.

"Josh." E.D.I. says stricter

"Cyrus can push me around as much as he want, sending any type of law enforcement after me. But he goes after my family and friends; he's got another thing coming."

E.D.I. taps her foot calmly but the entire hard drive shakes. Josh looks around and stares at E.D.I.

"E.D.I.?"

"Look at what you're doing."

Josh blinks and looks down at his body. He's shooting off electricity from his body to the ground and he didn't even know it. Josh soon realizes what he's causing himself to do from just being a little bit angry.

"My God what am I doing?"

"It seems to be working."

Josh narrows his eyes and looks over at E.D.I. with a lost look on his face

"What seems to be working?"

"Cyrus himself must have falsified the reports of the crimes you've never committed."

Josh looks dumb at E.D.I.

"Gee E.D.I., thanks for pointing out the obvious."

"It also seems that Cyrus knows you will be getting angry about this. Every time you feel the slight feeling of anger, your body responds to it by shooting out electricity everywhere. Hurting others, and making things worse for yourself."

Josh gulps hearing E.D.I.'s explanation on that theory. And it's true, when Josh was fighting the prisoners in the pen, the 'brass' knuckles that were out of a form of electricity, Josh could feel the anger inside him ready to pop out.

"I got to learn how to control it better, huh?"

"That would be a safe assumption."

Josh takes a deep breath and finds his center. The current around Josh slowly starts to go back into him and Josh finally manages to calm down.

"I feel so pissed off', E.D.I. nods, 'But at the same time, I feel like the entire world is out to get me. And I'm…worried it might."

"The whole world is not after you Josh. Just cooperating law enforcement agencies because they see you as a threat."

Josh nods with a stupid look on his face looking at E.D.I.

"Thank you E.D.I. for reminding."

E.D.I. turns around and looks at her screens.

"Now that 'Thank you' isn't like the previous one you said to me."

Josh smiles.

"Again, thank you E.D.I. for noticing."

"I am to please.', Josh shakes his head, 'Is there anything else?"

Josh rubs his head and looks around the infinite space.

"Yes. Erase my history. Having a feeling about that F.B.I. Agent Winter, he'll search my history of my whole life. Take it all away and erase. I want to make his job more difficult for him to get me then its worth."

"Right away Josh."

Josh nods and walks away. E.D.I. turns back and looks at Josh.

"Josh.', Josh stops and turns around, 'I have sent out a report to move your parents to a more, suitable location.', Josh sort of smiles and looks away, 'You don't have to worry about them."

Josh nods and walks away out of the hard drive.

Following morning…

Ralph snores a little which wakes up Vanellope a bit. She yawns and rubs her face. Vanellope looks up and sees Ralph just snoring like crazy. She covers her hears to block it out but, it's pointless. Vanellope sighs hard.

"Ahhh! Shut you up loud mouth!"

Vanellope jumps up and down on Ralph's stomach like a trampoline. But as Vanellope does this, Ralph seems to be…enjoying it. Ralph smiles funny and continues to snore. Vanellope sighs and sees what she's doing is pointless.

"Really annoying…"

Vanellope looks back and looks directly at Josh's room. She hops off Ralph and walks to his room. Vanellope walks up to the door and reaches up for the knob and turns it.

"Josh?', the door creaks and Vanellope peaks her head inside the room, 'Josh, you awake?', opens door completely and sees Josh not in his room at all, 'Where'd you go?"

Vanellope walks back out into the Living Room and sees everyone still sleeping. She quietly makes her way across the room and up to E.D.I.

"Umm, hello? Ah, Eddy?"

E.D.I. appears on screen and Vanellope sees her.

"Hello Vanellope. I believe you said my name wrong, it's, 'E.D.I.'"

"That's what I said, Eddy."

"I believe your saying Eddy, spelled as E-D-D-Y. My names E.D.I. E-D-I."

Vanellope nods.

"Right, do you know where Josh went?"

"He's down in the Factory. He went there a couple hours ago."

Vanellope looks back at the elevator.

"The Factory?"

"Yes. I believe the words he used were, 'Let off some steam'."

"Huh. Thanks Eddy."

Vanellope walks to the elevator and boards it.

"You said my name wrong again Vanellope."

Vanellope hits the switch.

"But it sounds the same right?"

The elevator goes down and takes Vanellope to the Factory floor.

The Factory…

Vanellope arrives in the Factory and sees everything all quiet and motionless.

"Josh?" Vanellope asks looking around

As Vanellope walks further into the Factory, some of the lights in the Factory sputter on. She looks up and sees them flickering.

"Huh."

Vanellope puts her hands in her hoody and walks further in. As Vanellope goes further into the Factory, she hears the sound of Josh grunting and moving around fast.

"Ah! OH! COME ON!"

Vanellope looks up and sees Josh on the higher platform above her. She climbs up it and sees Josh doing some kind of work out. He generates up large quantities of bolts in his hands and holds them for a few seconds. After a few seconds, he lets them go and they shoot off across the Factory and hit some of the old machinery. Some of the machines sputter and start up from Josh's bolts for a few seconds. Then they just shut off and remain still. Josh breathes heavily seeing he's worked up quite a sweat.

"Oh crap…"

Little electrodes pop off Josh's head from the sweat and shock him.

"Ow!"

Vanellope just watches as Josh wipes his head from the sweat and grabs the Root Beer nearby. She steps forward and Josh isn't aware of her presence.

"Shocky."

Josh blinks and turns around. He sees Vanellope.

"Short round."

"Really?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Came off the top of my head.', Vanellope walks closer to Josh, 'What are you doing down here?"

"Everyone is asleep. I was wondering where you were at."

"Just down here Vanellope."

"Blowing off steam like Eddy said?"

Josh narrows his eyes and looks down at Vanellope.

"Eddy? You mean E.D.I.?"

"It's the same thing."

Josh shakes his head and smiles.

"Spelled the same but hardly sounds the same Vanellope."

Vanellope shrugs and climbs on the railings.

"How long have you been down here?"

"Couple hours."

"Just…throwing your bluish bolts around?"

Josh gulps and sets down his Root Beer.

"Kind of. I'm also practicing. Just seeing what else I can do you know?', Vanellope just listens in, 'I feel like I can do a lot and I've recently discovered that I can. I can…produce so much from this electricity moving around my body."

"Like what?"

Josh smiles and looks down at Vanellope.

"Like this for example…"

Josh points his hand up and Vanellope watches. He points his hand high up at the ceiling of the Factory. Vanellope watches and suddenly a small storm cloud appears inside the Factory. Vanellope's eyes open wider and see little lightning bolts shoot out. She looks up at Josh and sees him focusing hard. His eyes turn bright blue and suddenly, he throws his hand down and a lighting strike shoots all over the place in the Factory in the distance. Vanellope flinches and Josh shakes his head.

"Pretty cool right?"

"That was awesome!"

Josh laughs and Vanellope looks up at him.

"What else can you do?"

"Uhh…check this out…"

Vanellope watches as Josh picks up his staff and points it out before him like a rifle. Josh absorbs the energy in him and transfers it into his staff. Vanellope just watches as his staff begins to glow really bright. She covers her eyes and finally Josh lets it go. The bolt fires all the way across the room and hits a conveyer belt and it springs to life. Josh and Vanellope just watch and Josh just breathes heavily.

"Takes a lot out of me but pretty amazing right."

"That'll knock down a lot of Cyrus's husks."

"Yeah, if people don't assume I'm the cause of that either."

Josh leans forward on the railing and Vanellope looks at him.

"Everyone out there…people…my people of this world…they think I'm responsible for why lots of children are sick."

"But you're not."

"I know Vanellope. I know I'm not. But try convincing millions of people to believe me. Remember what I said to you in my hard drive…back at the Arcade?"

Vanellope thinks for a moment and remembers what Josh said about his world.

"It's not like Game Central Station isn't it?"

"No it is not Vanellope."

"Your world…it really stinks Josh."

Josh sort of smiles but drops it. He nods.

"It sure does Vanellope. It sure does."

Josh pats Vanellope's shoulder and the two head back to the Apartment. As they walk through the Factory, Vanellope takes notice of all the old toys just lying around in half opened boxes with shipping labels.

"Do you know what this place was like before it was opened?"

Josh shrugs.

"No clue Vanellope. This place went bankrupted a week that it started production."

"What exactly is 'production'?"

Josh sighs.

"The product is made here and it's shipped to the place where another business bought…"

Josh stops walking and Vanellope walks ahead. She turns around and sees Josh is standing perfectly still just…thinking.

"Josh?"

"Shipped…"

"What?"

"The game…_Cyrus the Virus. _It…It was shipped to the Arcade. Someone shipped it to the Arcade!"

Vanellope doesn't exactly get it and nods her head.

"Yeah? And?"

"It was sent off by someone! Why didn't I think of this before!?"

Josh runs ahead and Vanellope watches.

"Hey! Josh! Wait up!"

Vanellope catches up to Josh as he boards the elevator.

The Apartment…

Josh and Vanellope arrive in the Apartment and Josh runs to E.D.I.

"E.D.I. E.D.I.! Guys wake up!"

"Huh!?" Ralph yells jumping up

"Whoa!" Felix shouts

As Calhoun shoots up, she sends Felix flying across the couch. She has her gun drawn and everything.

"What?! What is going on!?" Calhoun says aiming her gun around

Josh walks directly to the TV.

"Relax Calhoun, just discovered something very important."

Calhoun rubs her eyes and looks a little annoyed.

"E.D.I. I need you to look up something for me."

"What is it Josh?"

"I need you to look up all shipping manifests to Litwak's Arcade in the past two weeks."

"As you wish."

E.D.I. goes to work looking up everything that's been shipped to the Arcade. Everyone finally fully wakes up and looks up at the TV screen to. Josh waits patiently rubbing his hands together. E.D.I. shows up a shipping manifest on screen of the game to the Arcade.

"I have found something Josh."

Josh nods.

"Show it to me E.D.I."

"It appears the game was shipped from a night club."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"A night club?"

"The club's called, The Good Time Club."

"Seriously? Who signed for it to be shipped?"

"The owner of the club, David Everett. Signed for the shipping of _Cyrus the Virus._"

Josh sighs.

"So, this guy David Everett signed for it to be shipped to the Arcade?"

"That is correct."

Josh nods.

"I think it's time that I pay this Mr. Everett a visit."

Josh turns around and walks away. Calhoun, Vanellope, Felix and Ralph look at Josh leaving.

"You think that's a good idea?" Felix asks

Josh stops and turns around.

"This Everett guy might have answers to what Cyrus is or something. I'm going to ask him some questions."

"And if he doesn't answer your questions?" Calhoun asks crossing her arms

Josh picks up his staff and twirls it around. The electricity in his body shoots out around the staff and the four see.

"Then I'll have to be pretty convincing."

"But should you go alone?', Vanellope asks and everyone, especially Josh looks at her, 'Maybe we should all go and watch your back." Vanellope explains

"Yeah, aren't you like, wanted?" Ralph asks

Josh rubs his chin and thinks about the idea.

"That, That might be a good idea…but I can't take you all with me. It'll look suspicious."

"Then who's going to go with you?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks at the four and diverts his eyes to Calhoun.

"Calhoun', Calhoun takes notice, 'How's your dancing?"

Calhoun narrows her eyes wondering what Josh means.

Later that night…

Good Time Club…

Josh and Calhoun arrive at the Good Time Club. Josh parks his bike and the two get off of it. They slowly approach the club and Calhoun shakes her head at it.

"This…is a club?"

"Yep. Looks nice huh?"

Calhoun snickers.

"If you're blind and stupid."

Josh shakes his head and looks at Calhoun.

"What's the problem now Calhoun?"

Josh and Calhoun stop right in front of the steps leading up to the Good Time Club.

"You do remember you're wanted right?"

Josh nods with a look on his face.

"Of course. It's not like my face isn't printed on every billboard from here to my Apartment."

"Just try and keep things calm and silent. We don't need any attention brought to us."

Josh then looks shocked.

"You're telling me to be 'calm' and 'silent'. You're Sergeant Calhoun from _Hero's Duty;_ you shouldn't even say those words."

"Well given our circumstances, you are a walking time bomb ready to go off."

"I'm a time bomb?"

"Yes. Given how you showed off to all those people at the fair', Josh looks away and gets annoyed, 'Anyone can recognize you the second you shoot out a lightning bolt from your hands."

Josh sighs hard and looks back at Calhoun.

"Calhoun. According to E.D.I., the man who shipped the game works here. Let were standing out here arguing like an old married couple', Calhoun drops her mouth, 'Let me tell you something, you can do that stuff to Felix, but not with me. I'm not married to you."

Calhoun gets pissed and Josh walks up the steps.

"Just so you know, if you see Cyrus's husks, don't attack them. Just run."

"Just run? Are you kidding me? Those things get out they'll just multiply. I have to destroy them."

"You've destroyed enough. More than I can count even."

"That's probably difficult for you to handle."

Calhoun gets serious and spins Josh around.

"Hey!"

"Hey if you want to compare kill streaks, let's do it. How many Cy-Bugs have you killed? Let's see, one, two, uh, uh, uh, oh no. I'm out of fingers."

Calhoun gets more annoyed.

"JOSH."

"Let's get in here and find this David guy before you get on any more of my nerves."

Calhoun sighs hard and the two enter the club.

Good Time Club…

Josh and Calhoun enter the Club. People are dancing, listening to the loud music being played by the DJ. Colorful lights shoot everywhere. Josh stays focused until the moment he sees half naked girls dancing around the place in different sections of the club.

"Mm mm mm…"

Calhoun sees Josh getting distracted and rolls her eyes.

"Hey! HEY!"

Calhoun snaps Josh out of it by slapping him behind his head. He shakes it off.

"What? What?!"

"Look at you!"

Josh looks down at himself.

"What?"

"It's been ten seconds we've been in here and you're already distracted."

"By what?"

"By all these women in here."

"Calhoun…I was in jail, remember that?"

"Stay focused." Calhoun says walking ahead

"I AM focused!"

"Then stop staring at all these half naked girls. Were here for David."

"Well I'm not going to look at you that's for sure. You got Felix for that."

Calhoun turns her head back and looks hard at Josh. Josh examines Calhoun's armor and compares it to the girls around the club.

"Besides look at you, you look like you're from the future and dressed for battle."

Calhoun looks down at herself and Josh notices.

"Do you even know what's under that armor of yours?"

Calhoun looks back at Josh and narrows her eyes hard at him. Josh sees and puts his hands up.

"I'm just saying."

The two continue on. As the two look around the club, security spots Josh and Calhoun. One security guard calls on his radio to the others around the bar. Back with Josh and Calhoun, they continue to search and Josh shakes his head.

"This is stupid. Let's split up', Calhoun turns around, 'Will cover more ground that way. Meet me back at the bar in five?"

"Fine."

Josh watches Calhoun walk to the bathrooms.

"Where you going?"

Calhoun looks back.

"To the girls room, why?"

Josh points in the direction of the Men's.

"The Men's bathroom is that way?', Calhoun looks hard at Josh, 'Do you need help holding it Calhoun?" Josh says with a smile at the end

Calhoun heads to the restroom and two bouncers follow her inside.

Ladies Room…

Calhoun walks to the sink and stares at herself in the mirror. She looks down and turns on the sink. Calhoun splashes the water on her face. Behind her, the bouncers hide behind the wall and see Calhoun washing her face. One of the bouncers looks at the other and nods. He walks out quietly and up to Calhoun. Calhoun again splashes water on her face and looks up at the mirror, in the reflection, she sees the bouncer coming up right from behind her. As the bouncer gets close, Calhoun grabs her pistol and points it at the man.

"Don't even think about it!"

The other bouncer comes up from behind and pushes his friend into Calhoun. He goes and tackles Calhoun making her drop her gun. The bouncer gets up and grabs Calhoun from behind. She struggles to break free of his grasp.

"Man this chick is hard to handle! Help me out!"

Calhoun looks ahead and sees the other bouncer coming at her. She jumps up and kicks him away and he gets pushed right into the wall head first. Calhoun fights back with the bouncer who has his hands wrapped around her and slips out. She punches and kicks him away and Calhoun gets a second to breathe…

Outside the bathroom, Josh walks up to the bar and waits for Calhoun. Back inside the bathroom, Calhoun looks through a glass window and sees Josh just looking around. She waves to get his attention and suddenly Calhoun gets tackled by the other bouncer. She fights him off and looks at Josh through the window just watching a girl dance on the bar next to him. The bouncer throws Calhoun up against the glass window and bangs on the glass to get Josh's attention, but it doesn't work.

"JOSH!"

The bouncer throws Calhoun away. Back with Josh, he keeps a sharp eye on the girl dancing around his head.

"Hello, yes I would like you to dance more around me if you don't mind."

Back with Calhoun, the bouncer throws her away and he picks up her gun.

"DON'T MOVE!"

Calhoun spins around and washes the water off her face. The bouncer looks hard at Calhoun and pulls the trigger. But all it does is CLICK.

"Huh?"

Calhoun gets up and walks to the bouncer. He continues to try and shoot the gun and Calhoun grabs it and head-butts the guy.

"Don't!', watches guy fall down, 'EVER! Touch my gun!"

Calhoun looks through the glass window and sees Josh. She points her gun at the window and shoots. The bullets crack the glass into a million pieces and the bullets fly everywhere. Some customers hear the gun shots and Josh doesn't even flinch. He turns around, and as Josh looks through the glass, he sees Calhoun in the bathroom, breathing heavily showing that she was just in a fight.

"Uh oh!"

Josh quickly rushes to the bathroom and meets Calhoun there. As Josh runs there, he sees Calhoun all out of breath, drenched and completely tired. Josh crosses his arms.

"Boy…could I shake hands with the guy who decided to whoop your ass?"

Calhoun shakes her head grinding her teeth at Josh.

"Don't push me Josh…I'm in no mood. This isn't the time to annoy me right now." Calhoun says shaking her head back and forth

"Okay, okay. I won't. Well, at least we now were in the right place. Let's head up to David's office. Now he knows were here, let's meet and greet him kindly."

Josh leads while Calhoun follows with her gun in her hands firmly. The customers of the club quickly leave and Josh and Calhoun stay. As they make their way across the dance floor, they get surrounded by bouncers of the club. Josh and Calhoun look at each and every one of them and look back at each other. Josh grabs his staff and smiles at Calhoun.

"Do you mind if…go ahead?"

Calhoun waves her hand and Josh moves ahead.

"Gentlemen. My friend and I are on are way to see Mr. Everett. You can leave now and have a nice night somewhere else. But if you don't, you'll be spending a portion of that night in the hospital. What do you say?"

The bouncers look at each other and back at Josh. Josh blinks and they all laugh. Josh shakes his head and looks back at Calhoun.

"This won't count as my kill streak okay?"

"Fine by me."

Josh nods.

"Good."

The bouncers run at Josh and Josh points his staff at all of them. He shoots out a bolt at each one and they go flying across the dance floor. The music abrupts as the current hits it. Josh sighs and throws his staff over his shoulder.

"They just never learn…"

Josh and Calhoun move ahead and go up to David's office.

David's Office…

Josh and Calhoun make it up to David's Office. As they walk up to the door, they see a sign that says 'Do Not Disturb'.

"Really?" Josh asks

Josh looks down and sees the electronic key pad. He sighs and points his hand at it. Calhoun watches as Josh fries the machine and it short circuits. The door opens and Josh opens the door.

"Ladies first."

Calhoun enters and Josh follows. As Josh and Calhoun enter David's Office, they look across the room and see his chair facing the other way in front of a computer. Josh and Calhoun look at each other and Josh nods. Calhoun nods back and points her gun at David.

"Mr. Everett? David Everett? My name is Josh Litwak. You've probably heard of me. I just want to talk. Mr. Everett?" Josh asks approaching the desk

Josh looks back at Calhoun and sees her trained hard on at David. He looks back at David's chair and walks to it.

"David? David!"

As Josh approaches the chair, he spins it around and jumps back.

"No!"

Calhoun drops her gun and sees David's body infected with Cyrus's virus. He's infected and his whole body shows it. Josh shakes his head and rubs his face.

"And this must be David Everett."

Calhoun holsters her gun and walks to the desk.

"Cyrus?"

Josh looks back.

"Who else?"

Calhoun walks around the desk and examines the computer. Josh walks around David's lifeless body and just stares at him.

"I'm just going to take a shot in the dark here…David here signed the order to ship _Cyrus the Virus _to the Arcade. Cyrus breaks out and returns back to David here who signed off on shipping the game. Cyrus kills him and leaves him to tell no tale."

Calhoun nods.

"The best way I can figure it out."

Josh sighs.

"Best way I can figure it out."

"Dead end?"

Josh looks at the computer and walks to it.

"No. Maybe his computer can tell us a tale."

Josh reaches in his jacket pocket and pulls out his hard drive. Calhoun just watches.

"What are you doing?"

"E.D.I. can hack through anything. I'll have her take a copy of David's computer and analyze it back at the Apartment.', Josh's phone rings and he answers it, 'Hello?"

It's E.D.I. calling from the Apartment.

"Josh, I have traced calls stating police are on their way to the club right now."

Josh nods.

"Thanks E.D.I.', looks at Calhoun, 'We have to go."

Calhoun nods and Josh takes his hard drive out of the computer and leaves. Back with David's lifeless body on the other hand, his head slowly turns at his computer…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh and Calhoun arrive back at the Apartment.

"Tamora!" Felix says running toward Calhoun

Calhoun walks to the Kitchen and sits down on the stool. Felix jumps up on the counter and checks out Calhoun.

"Are you okay?" Felix says looking at Calhoun's face

Calhoun brushes her hair back and smirks.

"Yeah, I'm fine Felix. I just had to use the bathroom. That's all."

As Felix checks out Calhoun, Josh walks up to E.D.I. and plugs the hard drive in.

"Here E.D.I., analyze this data and tell me what you find."

"Right away Josh."

As E.D.I. analyzes the data, Josh goes to sit down on the couch and sighs.

"Oooh…what a night…"

Vanellope walks by with a Root Beer in hand.

"Here Josh, I got something for you."

Josh sees the Root Beer in Vanellope's hand and takes it.

"Thanks Vanellope, I could really use this right now."

Josh takes the Root Beer and gets ready to drink it. Vanellope smiles and slowly steps back. As Josh is about to open it, E.D.I. finishes analyzing the data.

"I have finished analyzing the data Josh."

Josh stops from opening the Root Beer and sets it down on the table. Vanellope just watches and looks annoyed.

"Great. Tell me what you found."

"I have uncovered plot details of the game _Cyrus the Virus._"

That catches, Josh and everyone's attention. Josh slowly blinks and stands up.

"You serious?"

"According to what I have read, yes."

Josh smiles and looks at everyone. This is what Josh wanted to know from the very beginning.

"Great, then let's have it out."

"I've only uncovered a certain amount of data; the rest of it is quite encrypted and will require time to analyze."

"That's fine E.D.I., that's fine. Just show us what you've uncovered."

"Very well."

E.D.I. shows the five what she's uncovered. Everyone watches, Calhoun and Felix still stay by the Kitchen. Ralph sits down behind the couch while Vanellope and Josh sit on the couch in front of him. E.D.I. shows images of the game world to Josh. Josh shakes his head seeing them.

"E.D.I. I've seen these images before. We all have when we entered the game."

"There is more, please be patient."

Josh sighs and waits. The images slowly convert to actual footage from the game. Everyone watches as news real show them the destruction of the world inside the game. People screaming, slowly dying and showing millions of people becoming infected by Cyrus's virus. Josh covers his mouth seeing the horror of the game.

"That's one hell of an intro…"

Vanellope sees the horror of the game and gets closer to Josh. The intro continues showing Cyrus going on a rampage, raising his army of infected husks and bending them to his will. He can see through the eyes of the once so called people, that's how he can control them. He can be in two different places, MANY different places all at once. Cyrus wants revenge of the world that made him into what he was.

Cyrus was an experiment. An experiment gone horrible wrong, trying to interface a human being with a deadly virus. A virus in which would be injected to the subject (Cyrus) and not feeling the effects of it, in which can control it and wipe out any other known viruses known demand. Also, using that virus on technology to wipe away anything and control from the mind. Josh shakes his head seeing this footage.

"Cyrus…I don't know whether to admire his ability or to feel sorry for him."

"Neither works." Vanellope states

"I know Vanellope."

But Cyrus went against it. Instead of using it, Cyrus found out what he can do and infected lots of people. Those people, who were once human, transformed into his husks which he return controlled and wiped out population all around the world. Josh watches the video and it goes into static which shows E.D.I. has to encrypt for it to continue. Josh shakes his head seeing what he just saw.

"I get it now…I get it and I finally understand." Josh says getting up

Everyone watches him walk to the window of the Apartment on the left side of the TV.

"What? I don't get it Josh." Ralph says

Josh sighs and finally Felix and Calhoun come over.

"What did you see that we didn't Josh." Calhoun states

Josh turns around and looks at his friend with a worried look.

"He's going to do it here."

"What?" Vanellope asks standing up

"Cyrus did what he wanted inside the game. With that done, he's got nothing left to do. But now that he's out of the game…he's going to do what he did inside the game to my world."

The four look at each other, Calhoun looks at the screen and sees the destruction of the game world and looks back at Josh.

"Wait, you mean to tell me, what Cyrus did in there, he's going to do here in your world?" Calhoun asks

Josh nods.

"Yes Calhoun."

"Why would he do such a thing?" Felix asks

"Because it wasn't enough for him. Since the game world isn't real enough for him, he's going to do it to my world. And it's already started."

The four look at each other and look back at Josh.

"What are we going to do now?" Vanellope asks

Josh sighs and reaches over for the Root Beer. Vanellope sees and covers her face.

"We have to stop Cyrus. Stop him from turning his game world into my real one.', as Josh opens his Root Beer, it explodes and everyone flinches, Josh on the other hand, keeps his eyes shut and holds the Root Beer firmly, Vanellope jumps up and climbs on Ralph's shoulder, he sighs hard and looks down at his drink, Josh then looks at his friends and lifts his Root Beer up, 'Cheers guys. To if we can stop Cyrus and beating him."

Josh drinks what's left of the Root Beer and sighs. He turns around and looks out the window, hoping he can stop Cyrus at all.

End of Chapter 11…

Preview of Chapter 12…

Discovering what Cyrus is planning on doing, Josh has to act fast. The reason Cyrus destroyed the world was because of his husks. So he has to make sure to stop the infection from spreading. But he can't go to the hospitals; he'll get caught in the matter of seconds. So the children will only get sicker. But news reports show the husks taking hostage of civilians and the police have no luck beating them. So Josh has to help but risk getting caught. And at the same time, a new player enters Josh's world. Friend or foe? Josh doesn't know. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 12 – A Hero and the Plague

Next chapter will come out next Monday, June 10th


	12. Chapter 12 - A Hero and the Plague

(I'm sorry Readers, I know I said next Monday but the thing is I hate doing things by the weekly, you know? It takes a week for the next chapter to come out then you forget what was about the last chapter. I wanted to see if I wanted to do it, but no. I can't, it just seems pointless. So, instead, new chapters will be out every couple of days. Of some sorts. So enjoy.)

Chapter 12 – A Hero and the Plague

Josh stands and leans up against the window looking out it. He thinks about what he learned from what Cyrus has done and continues to look out it. Josh wipes his forehead and feels the stickiness of the Root Beer that exploded on him. He narrows his eyes and looks out the window again.

"Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh turns around and puts on a smile on his face.

"What's up Vanellope?"

"Are you okay?" Ralph asks

Josh nods and just keeps the smile on his face.

"I'm fine guys, I'm fine. I just need to...process what we all, I just learned', sighs slowly, 'This isn't no game anymore."

Calhoun brushes her hair back.

"You just realize that?" Calhoun asks

Josh shakes his head and looks at Calhoun.

"I've realized a lot of things Calhoun…', Josh walks past everyone, 'Some of them still don't make sense to me." Josh says walking to the bathroom

Everyone watches Josh leave the room. Calhoun looks at everyone and follows.

"Wait here everyone."

Calhoun goes after Josh. Back with Josh, inside the bathroom...Josh turns on the sink and watches the water shoot out of it. He gulps and slowly puts his finger through it and feels a slight shock. Josh's face changes to a blank stare to a hard look.

"Mm!"

Josh pulls his finger back as small electricity shoots around his finger. He absorbs it back in his body and looks at his reflection.

"Damn it…"

Josh turns off the sink and turns around. As he turns, Calhoun is there at the door leaning against the frame.

"Calhoun."

"You okay?"

Josh scuffs and shakes his head.

"I said I'm fine. Really."

Josh steps forward and Calhoun doesn't let him leave. He sees what Calhoun is trying to do and looks around.

"Calhoun…"

"You need to talk about this."

"Talk about what Calhoun?', Josh asks looking back at her face, 'Cyrus is going to turn my entire world into the game world…what is there to talk about?"

"I know it's only been a few days since we've been here…"

"You realize that too huh?"

Calhoun looks funny at Josh and she shakes her head not looking to get into a talking contest with him.

"All I'm saying is Josh, what you did inside Game Central Station when Beta was out', Josh gulps remembering the events that took place, 'What you did, you saved our world in the process. Almost losing yourself in the process."

"What are you getting at Calhoun?"

Calhoun gulps and stops leaning against the doorframe.

"Will help anyway we can to help you stop Cyrus from turning your world into his." Calhoun explains walking away

Josh stands there for a moment and thinks about what Calhoun said to him. He lifts his hand up and the light in the bathroom goes out. Josh goes to his room and rests for the night.

Later that night…

As Josh sleeps through the night, he has strange dreams appearing in his head. He sees himself in the game world of _Cyrus the Virus_. Josh looks around and walks ahead. As he does, Josh looks up ahead and sees Cyrus walking away in the distance. Josh looks serious and chases after him. As Josh goes to him, it feels as if Josh is running fast, but really he's running slowly. Cyrus moves quicker and Josh notices him snapping his thumb.

Josh stops and sees Cyrus's husks appearing all around him. He pulls out his staff and gets ready to fight. Each husk screeches and runs at Josh. Josh fights and deflects the attacks of the husks. He swipes his staff down at them and they fall apart into a million pieces. Josh finishes off the last one and looks at Cyrus and sees he's stopped.

Josh chases after him. As Josh gets closer to Cyrus, it's a mirror mirage as Josh runs right through him. Josh looks back and wonders what just happened, and then all of a sudden, hears someone laughing. He looks around wondering who's laughing, and in the distance, spots a husk just standing around. Josh pulls out his staff and runs towards the figure. As Josh gets closer and closer to the figure, Josh's legs start to show a red aura around them. And finally, Josh stops.

Josh struggles to move as he looks down at what's stopping him. Josh sees the red aura and tries to break free of it with his staff, but nothing proves useful against it. Josh continues to struggle and looks back at the figure up ahead. The figure raises its head showing off the red aura around Josh's legs. Josh just watches and looks closer at the figure, the person from behind looks like their infected with Cyrus's virus, but looks different from it. Instead of orange, it's red. And just before Josh can see the face of the person as they turn, Josh finally wakes up.

Following morning…

Josh gasps softly and looks around his room.

"Ah…', Josh breathes slowly and looks down at his legs, 'That was so frickin weird."

Josh throws his legs off the bed and just stares at them. He feels his legs to see if he's got the feeling back in them and he does. Josh sighs in relief to the idea that it was only a dream and couldn't possibly be real.

"It was only a dream, only a dream Josh."

Josh gets up and heads into the Living Room.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks into the main room and sees everyone up.

"Morning."

Everyone turns and sees Josh is up.

"Hey Josh." Vanellope says walking towards him

"Morning Josh." Felix says fixing his hat

Josh walks into the Kitchen and Vanellope sits up on the stool looking at Josh.

"I'm hungry Josh."

Josh looks around.

"Let's see what I have…', looks around fridge and spots the milk, 'Want some cereal?"

"What kind you got?"

Josh looks around the cupboards and finds Lucky Charms.

"How about some Lucky Charms?

Josh pours the milk and cereal in a bowl and slides it to Vanellope.

"Want some sugar?"

Vanellope looks at Josh with a dumb look on her face.

"Do I love racing?"

Josh shakes his head with a smile and puts some sugar in. He puts half a table spoon in and puts it away.

"More." Vanellope orders

Josh looks and does. He pours just a little more and puts it away.

"More." Vanellope asks

Josh narrows his eyes and pours some more, but instead of using a spoon he just pours the sugar right out of the bag.

"More. More, more, more, more, more, more, more."

Josh sighs and literally pours the whole thing in there. Vanellope smiles happily seeing the cereal is just covered in sugar. She grabs the spoon and starts eating.

"It's perfect."

"If you're trying to get a sugar rush going, you'll get it."

"I hope so. I've been feeling kind of…different lately."

Josh throws the bag of sugar away in the garbage and narrows his eyes.

"Different? Different how?"

Vanellope swallows the food and looks around for the answer.

"I don't know, I've been feeling like I'm different. Like something inside me is different."

Josh leans forward on the counter and puts his hands to his face.

"You feeling sick or something?"

Vanellope shakes her head.

"Sick? What's that?"

Josh blinks and continues to look at Vanellope.

"Well it's probably nothing Vanellope. Just eat your cereal."

Vanellope smiles happily and digs in.

"Don't have to tell me twice."

Josh walks away and at his work station. He finds Felix there staring at a broken computer monitor.

"Can I help you with something Felix?"

Felix turns around and tips his hat off to Josh.

"No sir, but can I help you with anything? Like this?"

Josh sees the broken monitor and narrows his eyes.

"That's fine Felix, this one doesn't need fixing."

"You sure? I'm think I'm getting better control of my hammer in this world. A few short whacks and, presto! Good as new."

Josh smiles.

"I know Felix how your hammer works, but you really want to fix this monitor?"

"Wouldn't you want it fixed?"

"Yeah, but I just haven't had the time to do so."

"How did it get broken like this?"

Josh thinks for a moment and remembers how it happened. When he first was experimenting of sending himself into the hard drive, he forgot to unplug it from the monitor. So when he was in the hard drive viewed from the monitor, it cracked because it couldn't hold the screen resolution Josh was in. Josh gulps and leans on the work table.

"Let's just say I had more going then the monitor could hold."

Felix blinks not understanding what Josh meant by that. Josh sighs and picks up the monitor, and sets it up straight.

"Knock yourself out Felix."

"Thank you!" Felix says spinning around his hammer

Josh walks away and hops over the couch. He sees the TV is off and looks at his hand. Josh stares at his finger and points it at the TV, a little twitch of electricity shoots out of Josh's finger and the TV just turns on. He looks over and sees Calhoun cleaning her gun, sitting down on the chair to the left of him. Josh looks back and sees Ralph looking at a wall of photographs near the elevator in the back of the Apartment. Josh looks back at the TV and flicks his hand causing the TV to change channels.

As everything sits quiet in the Apartment, Vanellope eats, Felix fixes, Ralph just stares at photographs and Calhoun cleans her gun. Josh just casually watches TV and snaps his thumbs to change the channel. As Josh just surfs the channel's, E.D.I. kindly interrupts Josh's channel surfing and shows up on TV.

"Josh. I have found something on the news that might peak your interest."

Josh sighs and drops his hand.

"Should I avoid from saying 'record'?"

"It will save 3.5 seconds of time to convince you to just watch what I found."

Josh nods and waves his hand.

"Yeah, yeah just show me."

Calhoun takes notice and looks up at the TV as well. E.D.I. forces the channels to change and brings up a news station showing a hostage situation happening on a subway train.

"A hostage situation? Why'd you want to show me this E.D.I.?"

"Look at who the hostage takers are…"

Josh examines the screen closer. Different camera angles pan on from different news stations. The camera zooms on the train and the news footage shows Cyrus's husks as the hostage takers.

"Husks!" Josh yells jumping up

Everyone hears that and Ralph, Felix and Vanellope rush to the Living Room area. They all watch as the news and the newsman explains the situation.

"At 10:34 this morning, a subway train was hijacked by unknown assailants. These…men appear to be some form of group or gang. Police are having difficult time dealing with these takers and proving no use for the situation."

"Just say there useless. It's easier." Josh states

"Why would they take hostages?" Calhoun asks

"Cyrus is up to something. He knows if anyone comes near his husks they'll get infected too."

More camera footage shows that some of the husks have weapons and are firing back at the police. Josh just watches seeing the police are completely useless against the husks. He looks closer and realizes that the trains on a set of tracks which are electrified.

"E.D.I., find the tracks that the train is set on."

"On it."

"Also find me the nearest spot where those tracks are."

"Okay Josh."

Josh turns around and walks away. He picks up his staff and coat and puts that on. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun look at Josh leaving.

"Where are you going?" Ralph asks

Josh looks back.

"Those cops have no chance in defeating Cyrus's husks. I can't let those people get caught up in the cross fire."

"Wait, you're going there?" Calhoun asks

"Yeah Calhoun. I can't let those people die the same fate of turning into a husk. I'm the only one who can stop them."

"You can't go Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh looks at Vanellope walking towards him.

"I have to Vanellope."

"But, but…everyone's looking for you."

"I know."

"What if they take you back in again?"

"I'll make sure I don't."

"Josh if you fight the law things will only get worse for you." Calhoun explains

"I know that Calhoun, but I can't risk any more lives if they get infected and get controlled by Cyrus. These are my people; I'm not letting them end up like more husks!"

Josh turns around and boards the elevator. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun look at each other and board the elevator as well. Just as Josh is about to shut the door to the elevator, Ralph stops him and Josh notices. Josh watches as his friend's board the elevator and all Josh does is smile. He hits the switch to the ground floor and the five go down.

At the Subway Platform…

Cyrus's husks shoot from on top of the train and through the windows of the cars. The people inside glue themselves to the floor and avoid gun fire. Cyrus's husks just laugh as they get shot at and nothing happens to them. On the ground where the police are, the officers shoot back and see that when they shoot the husks, nothing happens to them. They need Josh as soon as possible.

Back with Josh and them…

Josh and them walk down a street near a fence indicating train tracks are nearby. He's on his phone listening to E.D.I. talking to him.

"Okay I'm here E.D.I. I don't see any train tracks."

"Look to your left."

Josh turns and sees them.

"Oh…duh."

Josh hangs up the phone and looks at the fence. He turns his head and looks up at Ralph.

"Ralph?', Ralph looks down at Josh, 'May you do the honors?"

Ralph looks at the fence and knows what Josh wants him to do. Ralph smirks and cracks his knuckles. Everyone stands back and Ralph literally digs his hands in between the fence and rips a hole out for everyone.

"Everyone." Ralph says waving his hand

Everyone goes through and follows Josh down to the tracks. As they get close to the tracks, Josh has a sudden attack feeling the current of the tracks that are giving off.

_This…this feels weird…I can sense the current coming off the tracks. It's strong…feels like I'm high or something…feels good._

Josh goes closer to the tracks. Calhoun looks to the side and sees a warning sign saying Danger: High Voltage Stay Off Tracks.

"Josh!"

Josh stops an inch away from the tracks and looks back.

"What?"

Calhoun points at the warning sign and everyone sees. Josh sees the sign and smiles.

"What? That's for normal people. Remember what I can do?', Josh lifts his hand and demonstrates the current in his body, 'Everything should be okay."

"Says so from the guy who uses the word 'should'." Calhoun says crossing her arms

Josh rolls his eyes and kneels down next to the track. Everyone watches and Vanellope gets a little nervous.

"Careful Josh. Please."

Josh looks back and winks at Vanellope. He looks back at the track and looks at his hand. Josh slowly goes to touch the track, and as he does, the current from the track is so strong, it zips up and around Josh's body making him glow.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Josh screams

Everyone flinches and freaks out. Vanellope screams and Calhoun pushes everyone back. Josh continues to scream for another second and the glowing stops. Josh lets go of the track, turns around slowly and smiles at his friends. They see it was all just a joke. Calhoun gets pissed.

"That wasn't funny!"

Vanellope laughs.

"That was great!"

Calhoun looks funny at Vanellope. Josh stands up and steps over the tracks.

"As I said, everything should be okay. Let's try this again."

Everyone watches as Josh steps his feet on the tracks and suddenly the current shoots up and around Josh. Josh absorbs the energy and floats up on the track a bit. He takes notice of this.

"Whoa! I'm flying guys! Look!"

Josh moves his body forward and backwards seeing he can control the current like as if he was a train. He sees what he can do and looks at his friends.

"You know what I have to do."

Calhoun nods and so does everyone else.

"You might want to step back."

Everyone moves back and Josh gets ready to shoot off. The four climb back up the hill to the street level and Josh, shoots off down the track looking like a flash. They watch and Vanellope cheers.

"Whoo-hoo! Go JOSH!"

Josh flies down the track as the current from him and the tracks boosts his abilities. He moves down the track heading right where the subway car is to help save the day.

Subway Train…

The husks keep messing around with the police showing them they can't fight and they are still winning. Several passengers, women cry wondering if they are going to die or not. One officer on the ground has a sniper rifle; he takes aim through the scope and fires at a husk on top of the train. It hits the husk hard, but just waves it off like nothing happened. The officers are at a last resort. Through the husks eyes, Cyrus watches from an unknown place.

"Ah, this is so boring. Don't these fools know they can't hurt my puppets?"

Back on the train, a husk on the roof fires down at a squad car ripping it to shreds. The police scatter seeing they are getting creamed. Cyrus laughs and just watches. A news camera team on the ground just watch in horror seeing the police are making no effort to stop this. One of the news reporters spot something bright flying down the track.

"What the hell is that? Get that! MOVE THE CAMERA OVER THERE!" Reporter yells

The cameraman moves the camera to the bright light that's flying down the track. The cops look and see it too.

"What the hell is that!?" Cop asks

"It's going right at the train!" Cop yells

The officers don't know if they should aim at it or just wait it out. Back with the light, Josh sees the train right ahead and throws out his staff from his back.

"Here goes nothing!"

Josh jumps up and the electricity shoots him straight up. Everyone on the ground flinches seeing a lightning bolt explode right in front of them. The flash goes away and everyone looks. The husks gain their eyesight back and the first one to see something only sees Josh's staff tearing its head off from the rest of its body.

"AH!"

The husk breaks up into a million pieces. The cops watch below seeing Josh tear apart the husks like their nothing to him.

"Should we…be shooting?" Cop asks

"At what?" Other Cop asks

Josh runs down the train and attacks another husk. Down below in the train, the husks hear the fight above. Right before the last husk is erased, Cyrus takes notice that it's Josh who's destroying his husks.

"Josh? I thought you were in jail. Not surprised you broke out. Let's make things interesting shall we?"

Cyrus orders one of the husks to grab the train conductor and instructs him to move the train.

"_**Move this thing." Cyrus orders**_

The Train Conductor shakes his head inside the room he operates the train from.

"No way!"

"_**Move it now! Or people die!"**_

The Train Conductor hesitates and moves the throttle back to move the train. Up on top, Josh digs his staff into a husk slamming him into the roof. The husk breaks up into a million pieces and Josh turns around.

"Let's go down."

The train jumps and Josh loses his balance.

"WHOA!"

Josh tries to keep his balance as the train moves. The officer with the sniper rifle looks through the scope and sees whose killing the husks. The officer sees its Josh Litwak and jumps.

"It's Josh Litwak!', the other officers take notice, 'He's on the train! Move!" The Officer orders

The officers quickly get in their vehicles and follow the train along the tracks. Back with the train, the Conductor is ordered by Cyrus's husks to go faster. The Conductor moves the throttle back more and makes the train go even faster. Back up top, Josh clings to the roof and holds on tight. The wind pushes him all the way back to the last car and finally Josh digs his staff into the roof and keeps his position.

"Son of a! Why's it moving!?"

In the cars below, several husks gather together and Cyrus realizes Josh is right above them. Cyrus smiles and makes the husks point their weapons up. Josh moves to the side and suddenly gets shot at through the roof.

"WHOA! OH SHIT! SERIOUSLY!?"

The husks continue to fire and laugh at the same time. The passengers cover themselves and hide in fear. One husk walks to the open door of the train and climbs up. Josh looks to his left and sees a husk's head coming up. He looks serious and grabs his staff. As the husk gets up and sees Josh. Josh pushes hard into the husks head and throws him off the side of the train.

"HERE'S YOUR STOP!"

The husk smashes up hard against a wall and breaks into a million pieces. The other husks wonder what just happened. Josh on the other hand, he sticks his staff right above the doors of the train, jumps up, spins around and lands right in the train. The husks jump and Cyrus flinches.

"_**JOSH!"**_

Josh smiles.

"Cyrus!"

Josh attacks the husks before they can draw their weapons. The passengers cover themselves and watch as Josh defeats the husks in the train car. One husk pushes Josh and almost of it. Josh and the husk fight as Josh keeps his staff right between them.

"_**You're not going to win Josh. These people are afraid of you. Why save them?" Cyrus asks through his husk**_

Josh looks serious and looks behind the husk at the other doors of the train. He diverts his eyes back at the husk and shoots a bolt at the doors making them open. The people see and Josh yells.

"AHHHH!"

Josh pushes the husk out sticking it with his staff. He taps the doors and they shut. Josh walks to the other set of doors and closes them. He looks around and at the other end of the car; the last husk puts a child in front of him and Josh sees.

"_**Oh Josh!"**_

__Josh looks serious and puts his hands up. The husk keeps the little girl in front of him, knowing that Josh will hit the girl instead of him.

"_**Drop your cane. Now."**_

__Josh narrows his eyes and gets annoyed.

"A staff. It's a frickin staff."

"_**Do it now, or she'll join the others."**_

"Okay, okay!"

"Please don't hurt my girl!" Mother yells

"_**SHUT UP!"**_

__The Mother gets back down on the ground. Josh looks around the car and sees metal handling around for people to grab onto if they have to stand. Josh looks and sees a metal pole right behind the husk.

"_**Now open the door…and jump out."**_

__Josh narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

"No."

"_**No? Why not!?"**_

__Josh smirks and touches the pole right next to him.

"Because of this!"

The current from Josh's body sours through the train causing it to shock anyone who's near it. The lights flicker and the husk near the pole gets hit and breaks up into a million pieces. The little girl runs to her Mother and the two embrace. Josh picks up his staff and moves past everyone.

"Move, get out of the way!"

The passengers recognize Josh is the terrorist they've all seen on TV. As Josh goes to the next train car, the passengers yell knowing who he is.

"Your that terrorist!" Man yells

"Why are you doing this to us?!" Woman yells

"You're the monster who did all of this!" Man yells

"Just leave us alone!" Woman yells

Josh stops and turns around. He looks at all the people yelling at him and he touches his face. The passengers continue to yell and Josh touches the lights in the car.

"Quiet~!"

The lights flicker and the passengers get scared. They all look slowly at Josh and see the current jumping out of his body. Josh calms down and holds his staff firmly.

"Think about this very carefully, all of you! If I'm responsible for this why am I going out of my way to save all of you?', everyone looks at each other thinking about that thought, 'Why would I be out here risking my life to save all of you?"

Suddenly the Mother starts crying and everyone takes notice. Josh looks and sees the Mother holding her daughter. He walks to her and kneels down.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know! She just fainted!"

Josh looks at the girl's body and focuses. He looks inside her and sees the virus is in her.

"She's infected."

The Mother looks all confused and scared.

"Infected?! Infected by what? That same virus that's going around?!"

"Yes."

"Oh my God! She's going to be like the rest! What am I going to do!?"

Then Josh remembers what Hero did to him when he was infected. He placed his hands on him…and he was cured. Maybe he can do the same to her.

"Let me see her."

"What?! Don't touch her!"

The Mother backs off and Josh remains calm. The Mother cries and holds her child. Josh calmly walks to her and the Mother sees.

"I can cure her. If you want me to."

The Mother blinks hearing that Josh, the 'Terrorist' can cure her daughter. She looks down at her child and sees she's really sick, her eyes glow showing that she's infected. The Mother slowly hands Josh her child and he takes her.

"All right now…let's see if I can even do this."

Everyone watches. Josh slowly places his right hand over her chest and little bits of electricity shoot out of his hand to the little girl. Everyone watches and notices the lights in the car start to flicker out of control. The light between Josh's hand and the girl's body light up and everyone looks away. Then suddenly, it's gone. The Mother and everyone look back and Josh holds his hand tightly.

"I…I did it."

Josh stares at his hand and opens it up. He blows air into his hand as ash just flies up and disappears into the air. The Mother looks back at Josh as he hands the child back to her Mother. The Mother checks out her daughter and sees her eyes slowly going back to the color they were; she opens her eyes showing she's all better.

"Mommy!"

"Sweety."

The two embrace and Josh slowly smiles. He turns around and heads to the front of the train. As Josh reaches the door, the passengers start clapping for him. Josh stops and doesn't look back. He just hears the passengers clapping for him, now seeing he's not the terrorist they thought he was. Josh opens the door and moves to the next car. As Josh goes through each car, he takes down each of Cyrus's husks. He bashes them, throws them up against the walls of the car, he even shoots out a lightning bolt to erase them off the train.

"Ladies and gentlemen move to the back end of the train! GO! NOW!"

The passengers of the cars ahead of the train move to the back. Cyrus knows Josh is moving to the head of the train to stop it. He makes one of the husks force the train conductor to stand in front of his three final husks he's got. Josh makes it to the lead car and sees the train conductor and the last of the three husks onboard.

"_**You should've jumped."**_

"You should have left these people alone."

Each husk speaks and the train conductor just shakes nervously.

"_**These people Josh…they need me. They feel free when I infect them with the virus."**_

"Free? Are you kidding me? You take away their life force. There noting but zombies when your virus is all the way through them."

"_**These people have no idea what's coming next for them."**_

"Oh I know what's coming next for them Cyrus. And it's not happening. Not here. Not in this world."

"_**Will see about that."**_

Josh spins around his staff and throws it up. Cyrus's husks watch and Josh throws both his hands at the husks and hits all three of them. They break apart and the Conductor sighs in relief.

"Oh! Oh thank God."

Josh runs to him.

"Help me stop the train!"

The Conductor looks at Josh and recognizes him.

"Hey! You're the!"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, later, help me stop the train!"

Josh walks to the compartment and the Conductor just watches.

"Where you touched?"

"Huh?"

"Were you scratched by the husks?"

"No, no! Why?"

"Because that's how you become just like them.', the Conductor wipes the sweat off his head, looks at controls, 'How do you stop this thing?"

The Conductor goes into the compartment and Josh just watches.

"Hang on this will be a hard stop."

Josh braces himself and the Conductor hits the emergency brake. But as he does, nothing happens.

"What the?"

"What's wrong?"

"The brakes aren't working!"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Seriously?"

The Conductor tries the throttles but they won't budge.

"Nothing's working!"

"Let me try."

The Conductor moves to the side and Josh places his hand over the controls. Powerful blasts of electricity shoot out of Josh's hand and the Conductor jumps.

"WHOA! HEY!"

Smoke starts to shoot out of the controls and suddenly, BOOM. The Conductor and Josh cough and Josh sees the disaster he just made.

"Whoops."

Josh fried the circuits so much that the whole system blew up. The Conductor looks at Josh.

"Nice going!"

"That's my bad. What else can we do?"

"Uhhh…"

"Think!"

"We can unstrap the cars from the engine!"

"Sounds like a plan."

Josh and the Conductor run out of the lead car and into the previous car. The two stand between each car and the Conductor tries to separate them. Josh just watches and sees nothing happening.

"Why aren't the cars separating?"

"This only works when the trains not moving! The pressure point is at its max."

Josh looks at his staff and pushes the Conductor to the side.

"Brace yourself!"

"Not again!"

Josh throws his staff down hard between the two trains and powerful bolts of electricity shoot out. The Conductor jumps back seeing the strong bolts of electricity shooting out of Josh. Josh grunts and groans as he tries to rip apart the piece that's connecting the two trains together. The power and heat from the bolts hits the piece connecting the train so hard it begins to melt. Josh sees and jumps back onto the previous car. The two cars are held together by a hair. It finally snaps and the lead car speeds on ahead. Josh and the Conductor watch as the train ahead speeds away. Josh looks down and sees that there going a little fast even though the lead car is gone.

"Aren't we going a bit too fast?"

"Will slow down eventually."

"Eventually? Hell no! Tell everyone to brace themselves!"

"Hey! What are you!?"

Josh jumps up and swings on top of the roof of the train. The Conductor spins around and orders everyone to brace themselves.

"Everybody hold onto something!"

Everyone in the cars hold onto something. Up top on the train, Josh sticks his staff to his back and sees the station up ahead. Josh clenches his fists hard and 'connects' himself to the lead car. The electricity from his body shoots down and warps itself around the wheels of the car. Josh focuses hard and squeezes on them to slow them down. They screech hard and everyone on board falls forward from the sudden stop. Josh grinds his teeth and slowly starts to bleed from his nose a little from the force within him.

The energy inside Josh is slowly draining, so he's basically almost running on empty. The cars slow up and Josh sees the train entering the station. He lets go and gasps for air. Josh falls as the train finally comes to a complete stop. The passengers inside slowly stand up and see they arrived at the station, in one piece and alive. They celebrate as Josh jumps off the roof and onto the platform below. Josh waves his hand at the trains doors and shoots out a bolt to open them. The passengers get out and continue to celebrate. Josh looks back at all them celebrating.

_Never thought I'd make it this far…especially with this many people in the cross fire…look at them…all happy…like everything is over…everything's not over. Not yet…_

Josh turns around and walks away. Some of the passengers notice and run to Josh. Josh gets surrounded by the passengers as they thank him personally for saving their lives.

_What-What the hell is this? Yesterday these people saw me nothing else as the 'Terrorist' on TV. Now they treat me like their savior…_

The passengers pat Josh on the back and some shake his hands.

_Okay I'll admit…this is pretty nice even for the short time that it's going to last…to actually feel like…like…a real hero. It feels great._

Josh watches as the passengers ascend the stairs and reach the street level. He follows them down. As Josh reaches the street level, he looks down the street and sees the police coming. Josh looks around for a place to run, but as Josh looks around, he spots a strange figure standing at the entrance of an alleyway with a hood over their face hiding who they are. Josh narrows his eyes wondering who it is; suddenly the figure starts to glow a bit red. He flinches to this and runs to the figure as the police arrive. The figure sees Josh running at them and runs down the alleyway away from Josh. Josh makes it to the front entrance of the alleyway and sees the figure run down the alley.

"HEY!"

Josh chases after the figure. The figure runs around the corner of the alleyway and Josh comes up to it as well. As he crosses it, he stops looking down the far extension of the alleyway.

"What the?" Josh says breathlessly

Josh sees the figure just…disappeared. The alleyway is long and there's no way the figure could have ran it. Josh looks back and forth and throws up his hands.

"Would someone tell me what the HELL just happened?"

Up on fire escapes above Josh, the figure reappears and takes off the hoody. The figure drops the hoody on Josh and he jumps.

"Hey!', Josh pulls off the hoody and stares at it, he recognizes it from the figure, 'This is…"

All of a sudden, it starts to get really hot.

"Is it…getting hot all of a sudden?"

Whoosh noises are heard and Josh looks up. As Josh looks up at the numerous fire escapes behind the building, the whooshing sounds keep getting louder. Josh grabs his staff and charges it up.

"Okay…this is…different."

The figure appears behind Josh and flies at him.

"Hey!"

"Huh?"

Josh turns around and gets tackled by the figure.

"AH!"

The figure throws Josh far down the alleyway. Josh struggles as this person over powers him. He looks up and sees a dark hand glowing bright red in a fist about to be thrown down at him. Josh's staff isn't in his hand any longer, so Josh clenches his fist, gets a charge going and throws it up at the same time as the figure throws her hand down at the same time. The two stop, and Josh looks up at the figure seeing it's…a girl.

"Your…You're a girl?!"

The girl sees its Josh and jumps back.

"The Terrorist!"

Josh bends his head up and quickly gets up.

"I'm not a terrorist alright!? You go that!?" Josh yells getting more charged up

The girl shakes her hands.

"Hey, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't want to fight Josh."

"Yeah that's right, you don't want to fight me…', realizes, 'How do you know my name?"

"Who doesn't know your name Josh Litwak."

Josh shakes his head and rubs it.

"You got me there."

"But don't worry though; I'm a fan of yours."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"A fan?"

Josh examines the girl and she takes notice.

_She looks…familiar…that glow…I've…I've seen it before. My dream…_

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Have we met before?"

The Girl shakes her head smiling.

"Nah, I would remember you though. And you definitely would remember me. The names Plague."

Josh gulps.

"Plague?"

This girl has really dark tan skin; her hair is very dark with tiny highlights of red. Even her eyes are red. This girl looks like she's been through hell and back. Josh also notices strange markings around her body as if the virus was in her but…was removed violently. He diverts his eyes to Plague's legs and she notices.

"Hey, hey…', snaps thumbs and Josh shakes his head, 'Eyes up here Shocky."

Josh sort of smiles and walks to Plague.

"Okay…Plague. You seem to know me. But I don't know you."

Plague smiles.

"That's right. I have more info then you do. You want to know something really cool?"

Josh crosses his arms and looks serious.

"That depends. How'd you get those scars on your body?"

Plague looks down and guides her finger around her scars.

"You like these? Like what you see?', Josh rolls his eyes and Plague notices no attraction, 'I got these when I was infected."

That catches Josh's eyes.

"Infected?"

"You know what I mean. Cyrus's virus."

Josh gulps.

"You know Cyrus?"

"Of course."

"How? How do you know him?" Josh asks eagerly

Plague laughs from enjoyment.

"Promise you won't laugh."

Josh shakes his head narrowing his eyes.

"I'm his daughter."

Josh's eyes just widen. He remembers what Tommy told him about the games plot that one time in the Arcade. Cyrus has a daughter.

"Your…Your Cyrus's daughter?"

Plague shrugs.

"In the flesh sort of speak. I have his genes, but not his eyes."

Josh is just lost for words.

"How are you not like the husks? If you were infected, how were you cured?"

"I'm not cured."

"But you just said you were infected."

"I never said that. You did', Josh just blinks with a lost look on his face, 'I'm still infected."

Josh steps back.

"What?" Josh asks shockingly

"Some people turn into those…creatures Cyrus makes. His…puppets. But some people…if you're lucky…you don't turn into his puppet. You turn… into something else."

"So…what are you?"

Plague smiles.

"Tell you what Josh…you want to know my fairy tale…meet me in an hour', points behind Josh, 'In that park. Right by that fountain."

Josh turns around and sees what Plague is looking at. He looks back at Plague.

"Why?"

Plague looks around.

"I don't feel like talking now…being here…it's different…I'm still getting used to it."

"Why should I leave you alone and believe that you'll meet me in an hour?"

"You don't. So trust me…"

Plague walks past Josh and he forcefully grabs her. Josh and Plague look into each other's eyes.

"Let me tell you something about my current situation Plague', Plague just listens tilting her head, 'Everyone out there is looking for me, what your Dad has done to me, I will not stop until I shove my staff down his throat and watch a lightning bolt explode from within him, you hear me?"

"Uh-huh…" Plague says looking like she doesn't care

"So don't, even think about screwing with me."

Plague smiles and disappears. Josh flinches and looks around.

"Plague!"

Plague appears on top of one of the fire escapes above Josh.

"Come alone', Josh looks up sees Plague up high, 'And don't screw with me either', Josh narrows his eyes, 'Men who screw with me, they have a lot more to fear then what my father does."

Josh smirks and Plague just…disappears. He shakes his head and looks around.

"Okay Plague…you can disappear and reappear in different places at once…if you ever meet Vanellope…do not do that in front of her…"

Josh walks ahead and heads home.

Josh's Apartment…

All is quiet in Josh's Apartment. The four wait for Josh's return. Vanellope looks a bit worried. The sound of the elevator rolls and everyone looks at it. The elevator comes to the floor and Josh lifts it up. Everyone looks and sees Josh made it back.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh watches Vanellope run to him.

"Hey."

Josh picks Vanellope up and hugs her.

"You made it!"

"Told you."

Josh sets her down and the other three walk up to him.

"So, was it worth it?" Calhoun asks

Josh tilts his head and looks funny at Calhoun.

"Absolutely."

Josh looks past everyone and looks at E.D.I.

"E.D.I., find a news station about the aftermath of the train."

"Yes Josh."

E.D.I. searches through the channels finding a station about the train. She finds it and it shows different interviews of the passengers talking about how Josh saved all of them. They just watch as Josh shakes his head with a smirk on his face walking to the TV.

"They're very thankful." Calhoun says crossing her arms

"Goes to show, when you do good, you receive wonderful rewards." Felix states

Josh nods and opens the fridge. He grabs a Root Beer and continues to face at the refrigerator.

"So…I just met Cyrus's daughter…Plague is her name."

Everyone turns at Josh and he finally turns around.

"What?" Calhoun asks

"Cyrus has a daughter?" Ralph asks

Josh leans against the counter and everyone huddles around it as well.

"Is she just like Cyrus?" Vanellope asks

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know. She jumped me in an alleyway, starting talking and told me she'd meet me in an hour at the park nearby."

"Are you going?" Felix asks

Josh shakes his head.

"She doesn't seem to be anything like her father…she's infected. She told me. Also told me some people can change and not become like Cyrus's husks."

"And she happens to be one of those people?" Calhoun asks

Josh nods and takes a sip of his Root Beer.

"Apparently."

"What are you going to do? Meet her?" Ralph asks

Josh looks up at Ralph and looks at everyone else.

"She's an unknown variable; I'm not going to lie. She can either be a friend or foe."

"Wait, you just can't go to her and assume she'll join our fight." Calhoun states

"I know Calhoun. I know. But it's worth a shot."

"I'll go with you then." Calhoun says grabbing her gun

"No. You stay here', Calhoun pauses, looks at Ralph, 'I want you to come with me on this one Ralph."

"Sure. Why me?"

"In case anything happens, she might be intimidated by you. I mean, look at you."

Ralph looks down at himself and Josh finishes his Root Beer.

"Let's go Ralph."

Josh and Ralph walk to the elevator. He slides down the door and waves goodbye to everyone.

"Will be back in over an hour."

"Be careful out there guys." Felix says

"That's no problem Felix." Ralph says

Josh nods and Vanellope waves goodbye. Josh waves back and smirks. He and Ralph go down and go meet this Plague chick.

Hour later, at the Park…

Josh and Ralph arrive at the Park where Plague wanted to meet him. They look around and don't see her.

"I don't see anyone." Ralph says looking around

"Me neither, keep an eye out Ralph."

As Josh and Ralph keep an eye out, suddenly, WHOOSH! Plague appears with her arms crossed looking at the two.

"I told you to come alone', Josh and Ralph turn and see Plague, 'Hard at remembering?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"My remembering is fine; I just thought I have some backup in case this meeting goes south."

Plague looks up at Ralph in an odd way.

"You brought more then back up, you brought the whole subdivision."

Ralph gets a little annoyed and cracks his neck. Josh steps in front of him.

"The best idea now Plague is not to piss off the seven foot one, 643 pound man standing before you."

Plague sighs and shakes her head.

"Fine, whatever. I didn't ask you to come here to fight. Believe it or not Josh; I'm on your side."

"My side? You're the daughter of the man who's ruining my life last time I checked."

"And last time I checked, I possess the same kind of powers as my father, so I'm a good person to have on your team."

Josh rubs his eyes and looks back at Plague.

"And what do you get out of all of this?"

Plague smiles funny and slides near the fountain.

"I get to watch daddy suffer as we destroy his plans."

"You know what he's planning?"

"Of course, he did it once already. Have you seen it?"

Josh sighs.

"Yeah, I have.', Josh turns and looks up at Ralph, 'Ralph? Can you play nice?"

Plague diverts her eyes up at Ralph and he looks down at Plague.

"I can be good when the time calls for it."

Josh nods and looks back at Plague.

"So Plague…what exactly can you do?"

Plague smirks and looks at the fountain. Josh and Ralph watch as Plague washes her hand in the water and it slowly turns read. Josh watches as the water on Plague's hand gets absorbed and turns into a lookalike of Cyrus's virus.

"Cyrus has his virus, I…have my own."

Josh nods.

"I see. And what about heat?"

Plague laughs and suddenly spurts of fire come out.

"I like it hot and heavy, you know?"

Josh shakes his head. Suddenly police sirens are heard. The three hear it.

"What the hell is that?" Plague asks

Josh looks back and in the distance, spots armored vehicles with the logo S.W.A.T. on the front of it.

"Oh crap! Police! Run for it!"

The three run away as the vehicles surround the park to capture Josh.

"How did they find us?!" Ralph shouts

"Probably picked me up on a traffic camera or something, I don't know!"

"Quit talking and run!" Plague orders

Up on the rooftops where the three are running at across the street from the park, snipers take position and look through their scopes. They take aim and fire. Josh avoids from getting shot at.

"Go, go, go!"

The three exit the park as several cars crash into each other. Josh slides across the hood while Plague hops over the other. Ralph just charges and pushes both of them out of his way. The three run down an alleyway and the S.W.A.T. teams take position covering both entrances to the alleyway. The three run around the corner and see the other end of the alleyway blocked off. They slide and stop.

"We're trapped!" Ralph yells

"We can take care of these fools!" Plague yells

Josh looks and sees Plague ready to fight. Her arms glow and fire shoots out. Josh quickly runs to her and stops her.

"No! No fighting! I don't need S.W.A.T. teams barbecued and have something else blamed on me!"

"And what do you suggest?"

Josh looks around and sees a set of double doors. He points at it.

"There! In there!"

The three run to it and find it chained and locked.

"Locked! Ralph?"

"Got it."

Ralph charges at the door breaking them off. Plague sees and nods with an impressed look.

"Not bad."

Ralph waves his hand.

"Lady first."

The three run inside as the S.W.A.T. teams make it to the scene. They surround the building. Back inside, Josh, Ralph and Plague run into the store and see the S.W.A.T. team set up outside.

"Close the windows!"

Ralph and Plague run to the windows and shut them. Josh goes to the door and locks it. Suddenly the S.W.A.T. team outside turn on their lasers and aim inside the store. Josh looks down at his coat and sees the red dots on him. He looks back and ducks.

"Duck!"

The three jump to the floor and automatic fire is shot upon them. Josh crawls and sees the lasers above him.

"Seriously!? Lasers?!"

"You know how to pick your enemies!" Plague yells crawling on the floor

"I didn't pick them! There ordered to kill me!"

"By who?" Plague asks

"By the guy who ruined my life!"

"Oh."

"To hell with this! To the ROOF!" Josh orders

The three run around into the back and climb up the stairs. The S.W.A.T. team barrages down the door and goes after the three. As the three climb the stairs, the S.W.A.T. team finds them and fires. Josh spins around and throws a soft shock at all them. They get electrocuted but enough to stun them and make them fall on the ground. Plague sees what Josh just did and continues to climb.

"Oh! So you can attack them, but I can't, is that it?"

"I didn't kill them! I stunned them! Move!"

Ralph barges down the rooftop doors and Josh and Plague make it out. Ralph looks around and rips off the air conditioner of the building and places it in front of the door. The three catch their breath and look around.

"Now what?" Plague asks

Sirens are heard from down below. Plague walks to the edge of the roof and looks down.

"Yep, these guys have the place surrounded." Plague says spitting down

"Well, this just got worse." Josh says brushing his hair back

Suddenly a helicopter swings by and everyone looks up.

"Josh Litwak! The building is surrounded! Give yourself up and no one has to get hurt." Pilot of the helicopter says

Josh shakes his head.

"That's what they always say." Josh states

Plague gets annoyed and walks past Josh.

"This is possibly a good time to show you exactly what I can do.', Josh looks down at Plague and sees her smiling funny in a way at the helicopter, 'Enjoy the show." Plague says with a smile

Josh shakes his head.

"Plague!"

Plague whooshes away leaving some of her red aura behind. Josh and Ralph look around wondering where she went.

"Plague!" Josh yells

"Where'd she go?" Ralph asks

"I wish I knew Ralph."

In the helicopter, the Pilot hovers around and keeps eye contact with Josh. Behind him, Plague appears and approaches the Pilot from behind with a funny look on her face.

"Ha, ha…excuse me…', Plague asks as the Pilot turns around, sees Plague and almost jumps out of his seat but Plague touches his shoulder infecting him with her virus, 'Mind if we go for a little ride?"

The Pilot gets under Plague's control and steers the helicopter away. Josh and Ralph watch as the helicopter flies away from them and to the S.W.A.T. team below.

"What the hell is she doing?" Josh asks

Plague watches as she makes the Pilot fly straight into the S.W.A.T. team members below. Her red aura sticks around the Pilot as his eyes glow bright red. Plague sees she's getting close as the S.W.A.T. team members below scatter. She swooshes out of there and the Pilot wakes up.

"Huh?', sees where he's at, 'WHOA!"

The Pilot swerves to avoid a collision but it's too late. The helicopter crashes hard into the vehicles below. Josh watches as the helicopter slides down the street and finally stops. He shakes his head seeing the Pilot crawling his way out. Plague swooshes right back to the two boys and Josh sees.

"AH! BABY! See that! Pretty sweet huh?"

Josh shakes his head and walks away.

"Ralph, let's go."

Ralph walks away with Josh and Plague sees.

"Wha? Are you mad at me?', Plague quickly catches up and runs in front of the two, 'Aw, don't be like that. I just saved your butt. You owe me."

"You could've killed those men."

"They got some bruises, but they'll live to fight another day."

"You're too dangerous Plague."

Plague throws up her arms and smiles.

"Daughter of that psycho…some genes do run in the family…', Josh narrows his eyes, 'You need me. You know you do…just think about it…"

Josh slowly sighs and rubs his eyes. Plague nods.

"I'll see you soon."

Josh takes his hand off his face and sees Plague swoosh out of there. Ralph crosses his arms and looks down at Josh.

"So…', Josh turns around and looks up, 'What now?"

Josh shakes his head and looks ahead.

"Right now Ralph. Home."

Josh walks ahead and Ralph follows. The two men go home.

End of Chapter 12…

Preview of Chapter 13…

Given the circumstance of what Plague is and who she is, if she's telling the truth then maybe she can be an assist to Josh. But he can't trust her yet, not after what he witnessed of her abilities. As E.D.I. analyzes more of David's data, she uncovers there's someone else out there that wants to fight Cyrus. But there's a catch, Cyrus has that person locked up. Locked up? Why? Josh assumes this person might be a threat to Cyrus, or perhaps scare him, or there's a reason why Cyrus locked this person up. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 13 – The Tower


	13. Chapter 13 - The Tower

Chapter 13 – The Tower

Josh's Apartment…

Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope sit around in Josh's Apartment waiting for their return. Felix and Calhoun talk amongst each other at the Kitchen area. Vanellope just sits on the couch just staring up at the TV. E.D.I. watches Vanellope just looking around and finally says something.

"Is there an inquiry on your mind Vanellope?"

Vanellope looks lost.

"What's an 'inquir-ly'?"

"It is said as 'inquiry'. A topic you would like to discuss upon waiting for Josh's return."

"They've been gone for a long time."

"Forty five minutes and twenty four seconds to be exact."

Vanellope gets more impatient.

"But if you would like to see what has been going on, I've picked up a news report in an attempt to apprehend Josh."

Calhoun and Felix take notice and walk to the Living Room.

"What happened now?" Calhoun asks

E.D.I. shows the three a news clip of the scene of the disaster. The helicopter crash in the middle of the street. The three watch shockingly as Ralph and Josh arrive back. They walk towards everyone seeing what's on TV.

"That was fast', Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope turn around seeing Josh and Ralph are back, "I'm surprised this made the news already."

"Josh!"

Vanellope jumps up and hugs Josh. He returns it.

"Hey Vanellope."

Ralph rolls his eyes and pretends to cough. Josh and Vanellope take notice.

"I'm back too you know."

"Oh hey Ralph, nice to see you."

Josh just laughs and sets Vanellope down. This time, Calhoun clears her throat and Josh looks.

"Went a little out of your way huh?" Calhoun asks pointing at the TV

Josh looks at the TV and sees the crashed helicopter. He shakes his head smiling.

"Okay Calhoun, I'm completely honest with you, I had nothing to do with that."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"He's right. It was that girl. She did all of that."

Calhoun looks at Ralph.

"Girl? Plague?"

Josh nods.

"That's the only one."

"She did that?', Josh and Ralph nod, 'What exactly did she do?"

Josh shrugs and walks away.

"I don't know, Ralph and I were on the ground. She disappeared and I'm assuming she controlled the pilot to crash the helicopter." Josh explains walking to the Kitchen

"What exactly can she do?" Felix asks

"As she said, anything like her father, but totally different."

"Is she a threat?" Calhoun asks

Josh sighs and closes the fridge door.

"I don't know Calhoun. She for some reason seems pissed at Cyrus for some reason. Why, I don't know…I'm thinking that maybe she can help us."

"You want that girl helping you Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh shakes his head.

"Yes I do Vanellope. Given what she can do, without trying to destroy everything in sight. And taught properly not trying to kill everyone who's trying in return to kill us. Maybe she can…be part of the team?"

Everyone looks at each other and Josh notices.

"What?"

They all look back at Josh.

"Team?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs and smiles a little.

"Yeah…don't you four agree?"

The four think about it and slowly come to terms with the idea.

"I like it. We're a team." Vanellope states

Josh smiles and leans back.

"Do we have a name?" Felix asks

Josh shakes his head.

"No, no Felix. We don't have a name."

"We should." Vanellope says

Josh sighs and walks away.

"Have fun with that guys. After today, I really need the rest."

Everyone watches Josh head straight towards his Room. Inside his Room, Josh sets down his staff alongside his bed. He slides along top and stares up at the ceiling. Josh slowly closes his eyes and falls asleep.

Through the night…

Josh again has strange dreams of seeing Cyrus's world in the game's perspective. He walks around keeping a sharp eye out. Josh travels through the world and sees a closed road sign up ahead. He goes over to check it out, and as Josh goes, he sees the entire road completely gone ahead of him. Josh looks around, and the orange fog moves, revealing a building all by itself in the middle of the destroyed road.

Josh looks and looks up. The only building that's left is a tall tower. It shoots way up into the sky. All around it, strange claw marks like something was hanging on the side of it is seen everywhere on the tower. Josh narrows his eyes wondering why such a thing looms in this abandoned world. As Josh slowly looks down, a dark shadow appears behind him. It covers his whole body hiding his shadow. Josh slowly turns around to look at the figure, but as Josh turns, he covers his eyes from the bright sun.

The figure comes into view but the light darkens its body all around. It flies right at Josh and Josh can't help but stare. A loud screech sound is heard and Josh finally sees the figure is flying right at him with huge sharpen claws. Josh falls backwards and tries to escape, but as he looks up the figure smashes right into him.

Following morning…

Josh gasps and sees the ceiling above him. He breathes heavily seeing that it was all just a dream. Josh looks around with his eyes only and rubs them.

"Oh, oh…oh man…I hate having those dreams….phew…', Josh wipes his head and feels the sweat coming off of it, 'Why the hell is it so hot in here?"

Plague clears her throat and Josh narrows his eyes. He turns his head to the other side of the bed and sees Plague…with her hand on her face and waves with her fingers spread out.

"Hi there."

Josh blinks and opens his eyes even bigger.

"Plague?', Plague nods, 'Is this a dream?"

Plague shakes her head the other way.

"Nope. I'm all real baby…"

Josh shuts his eyes and looks straight up.

"Not a dream…more like a nightmare." Josh says getting up

Josh gets up and stretches. Plague just watches as Josh stands up.

"If I was in your dreams Josh, you'd remember them."

"And how would I remember them?"

"You'd be burning off a lot of sweat."

Josh gulps and picks up his staff. He points it at Plague and she sees it.

"I'm already sweating. It must be over a hundred degrees in here." Josh says wiping his forehead

Plague smirks getting up.

"Phew…"

"I like to leave a part of myself where ever I go."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Leaving a nice temperature room into a sauna? No thanks."

Plague chuckles and grabs her axe. Josh looks and sees the axe Plague is now carrying.

"Whoa, where the hell did you get that?"

Plague looks at her axe and looks at the blade of it.

"I found it. Here."

Josh looks lost.

"Here?"

"I came here about an hour ago…just checking your place out. And I have to say, of all the places to live, you pick a shit hole like this."

Josh crosses his arms.

"You do see that I don't live in the Factory right?"

Plague shrugs.

"You may not live down there, but this place is still part of it."

Josh sighs.

"Okay…and I take it that you found the axe somewhere in the hallways?"

"Thought it looked cool."

Josh nods.

"Right. 'Cool'. Figured you might use 'hot' or something." Josh says walking to the door

Plague narrows her eyes as Josh goes to the door. Her eyes turn bright red as Josh grabs the knob. The knob heats up really hot and Josh lets go of it.

"Ah!', looks at hand, 'Hot…"

"That's right."

Josh looks at Plague slowly walking to him.

"So, what's it going to be?', Josh blows on his hand as Plague sits down on his bed, 'We working together, or what?"

Josh waves his hand and crosses his arms.

"You don't need your father's approval now do you?"

Plague shakes her head off to Josh and he notices her not wanting to hear about her father.

"That man is not my father. Never was. Never will be. All he cared about was the world at the palm of his hand. That's all he ever cared about."

Josh sees Plague getting…somewhat emotional. Her eyes start to dim down a bit of their redness.

"Tell me something Plague', Plague looks up at Josh, 'The only way that you're in this is you tell me the truth."

"The truth?"

"Yeah, the truth. And only the truth."

Plague sighs and shakes her head around.

"Okay, what is it?"

"What did Cyrus do to you to make you hate him so much?"

A moment of silence passes by. Josh and Plague just stare into each other's eyes and Plague shakes her head to move some of her hair out of her face.

"He tried to kill me.', Josh gulps, 'He infected me. Watched me to turn into one of his creatures. Wanted me to do his dirty work for him as he watched through my eyes.', Josh slowly nods to understanding, Plague sort of smiles, 'But little did he know what his virus did to me when I turned back on him."

Josh blinks and drops his arms.

"I see."

"How's that for the truth for ya?"

Josh throws out his hand to Plague and she sees it.

"You want to fight against Cyrus, your welcome to try."

Plague looks at Josh's hand and takes it. Josh pulls her up and now Plague stands up.

"Oh I can try. And you better watch too."

Josh turns around and leaves.

"Why don't you come meet everyone…', Josh turns back and hears a swoosh, as he turns he sees Plague gone, 'Plague? Great…"

Josh exits his room.

Josh's Apartment…

Living Room…

Josh walks out and sees everyone up.

"Morning guys."

Vanellope turns around and sees Josh.

"Hey Josh."

As Josh walks to Vanellope, Plague swooshes her way and reappears behind Josh and Vanellope sees. She stops and Josh sees her frozen still.

"What?"

"Who's that?" Vanellope asks pointing

Josh narrows his eyes and turns around. He sees Plague smiling and waving.

"Plague?"

Calhoun turns and sees Plague.

"Hey!" Calhoun yells grabbing her gun

Plague sees what Calhoun is doing and swooshes out. Calhoun keeps her gun drawn and Josh tries to stop her.

"Hey, hey, whoa! Calhoun gun down! It's okay."

"It's okay? A stranger is here, how is that okay?"

"Well stranger, you're going to be surprised by who it is."

"Who?" Calhoun asks

Ralph and Felix look around wondering where Plague is. Plague swooshes in and reappears behind Calhoun and moves really close to her. Close enough to whisper right behind her.

"Cyrus's daughter, that's who…"

Calhoun spins around and Plague swooshes out. Calhoun gets annoyed by this game Plague is playing and Josh, he just watches. Plague swooshes and reappears in front of Calhoun with her back turned. She grabs her axe and whistles to Calhoun to get her attention.

"Over here."

Calhoun turns and the two ladies keep both their weapons drawn. A tense moment happens and everyone stays quiet. Vanellope stays behind Josh and Ralph and Felix just watch. The two ladies stare hard at each other.

"Cyrus's daughter?"

"That's me. The names Plague."

"How'd you get in here?"

"I just…appeared. None of your concern."

"It is my concern if a stranger like you, especially like you who's related to the man who's doing all this just feels like popping in whether she feels like it. Doesn't sit well with me."

"I don't care if it doesn't sit well. Josh and I here worked it out. Were now on the same side."

"He did what?" Calhoun asks hard looking at Josh

Josh sighs.

"Calhoun, Plague appeared in my room. We talked and I decided to let her join us."

"Don't you think that's something we all need to agree on? Since were a 'team' now."

Josh nods.

"Right. I'm sorry. Your right. Guys? What do you think?"

Ralph and Felix look at each other and back at Plague. Plague diverts her eyes and the two look back at each other.

"She can join us." Ralph says

Calhoun looks funny at Ralph.

"She seems to have the stuff." Felix states

Calhoun looks really funny at Felix.

"FELIX."

"Vanellope, what do you think?"

Josh looks back down at Vanellope and she looks up.

"Will she help us?"

Josh thinks for a moment and nods.

"I believe so."

Vanellope thinks for a second and shakes her head.

"Okay. Let her join."

Plague smiles funny at Calhoun.

"It seems like I'm part of this team now', Calhoun looks back at Plague with a hard look, 'So I guess it's time now to start acting like friends."

Calhoun doesn't say anything and the two just stare at each other. Josh sighs and walks to them. As Josh walks to them, Plague's axe starts to show the red aura showing she's getting charged up, but it soon stops when Josh throws up his staff between the two hitting their weapons.

"Okay, okay, enough now. Let's try and get along now, okay?" Josh asks looking back and forth between the two

The two girls look at each other and back at Josh.

"I can get along with her as long as she follows orders." Calhoun says

"I'll get along with this chick if she doesn't tell me what to do."

Josh nods.

"Good. E.D.I, do you have any new information on the data from David's computer?" Josh asks walking towards the Living Room

Josh sits on the couch and everyone goes to it too. E.D.I. appears up on the screen.

"I have uncovered vital data that may be useful to you Josh."

Josh claps his hands.

"Great. Let's hear it."

"According to the data, it seems long ago before the events of _Cyrus the Virus _takes place, there was another experiment, the same people who experimented with Cyrus, they did something else to another person but failed."

"Another experiment? Same thing as Cyrus? With a virus?"

"No, according to the data, it was with something else, but I haven't been able to find an exact answer."

"Why not E.D.I.?"

"Some of the data is badly corrupted. It's a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces."

"Great. Playing a board game with missing pieces. This just gets better and better."

Plague leans back and throws her axe on her back.

"Seems like your computer friend doesn't know about the girl locked away in the Tower."

Josh narrows his eyes and turns around slowly. Everyone turns around and looks at Plague.

"What did you just say?" Josh asks

Plague looks around as if she's looking for an answer. Josh stands up and walks to her.

"You know what E.D.I. is talking about?"

"E.D.I.? That her name? Odd name to choose for an A.I. don't you think?"

Josh gets annoyed but hides it.

"Tell me what you know about this girl in the Tower."

"Why should I?"

Calhoun looks serious and stands next to Josh.

"Because he said so.', Plague looks hard at Calhoun, 'So answer the question."

Plague looks around and sees all eyes on her. She sighs and brushes her hair back.

"You sure you want to know?"

Josh nods.

"What is this experiment E.D.I. is talking about?"

Plague turns around and walks to the Kitchen. Everyone still watches her and Calhoun gets annoyed. She steps forward and Josh stops her.

"Relax." Josh whispers

Calhoun looks down at Josh and nods. Plague turns around and looks at everyone.

"This is only a story I heard from Cyrus. Don't know if it's even true or not', everyone listens in, 'The experiment performed on this chick was no failure; it was actually a complete success."

"Why did E.D.I. say it was a failure then?" Vanellope asks

Plague looks at Vanellope.

"Don't always believe the first story you hear kid, it's either a lie or complete bull shit."

"Hey!' Plague looks at Josh, 'Watch your mouth Plague. Vanellope's a child after all."

Plague zips her mouth and pretends to throw away the key.

"As I was saying, the experiment was a complete success. But then came Cyrus's time. And we all know how that turned out right?', everyone looks at each other knowing, 'Cyrus heard about her. Knew what she could do. He had to have her."

"Who is 'she'?" Josh asks

Plague shrugs.

"I don't know. Don't even know her name."

"How do you even know if it's a 'her'?" Calhoun asks

"Because I can still remember the screams. And it was no boy either', Josh gulps, 'Cyrus wanted to control her, seeing what she could do. Seeing that she was a complete success and he was a failure."

"What could she do?" Felix asks

"Again, I don't know. But it was something that Cyrus saw as strength. But also at the same time, saw it as something very dangerous."

"What did he do?" Josh asks

"What else do you do to keep something in your grasp forever? You lock it up."

Josh nods realizing it.

"The Tower you mentioned."

Plague nods.

"That's right. He locked her up…and threw away the key."

Josh gulps and shakes his head. He walks to Plague slowly.

"But why did Cyrus lock her up? If he knows what she can do, why not use it?"

"Because he's afraid of her."

Josh almost flinches.

"He's-He's afraid of this girl?"

"Yep. I am too."

"Why?"

"She can do something so powerful you'd want to runaway but can't."

"Are you saying…she's…unstable or something?"

Plague thinks about the words for a second and shakes her head.

"Nah, not those words. More like… 'uncontrollable'. She's dangerous. So that's why Cyrus locked her up. She gets out; a lot more people will die by her then by Cyrus."

Josh thinks for a moment about the situation.

_If Cyrus is scared of this girl then she can either be an assist to the team or a ticking time bomb, Cyrus is powerful…even with Plague's help, will need all the help we can get…_

E.D.I. suddenly pops up on screen.

"Josh. I have found something interesting."

Everyone looks at the TV and Josh walks to it.

"Show me what you got E.D.I."

"I believe…I have found that 'Tower' Plague has mentioned."

Plague crosses her arms narrowing her eyes. Josh just blinks.

"Are you sure?"

E.D.I. brings up the data from David's computer and shows a corrupted image of the 'Tower' inside the game. Everyone sees it and Josh flinches.

"Oh my God…are you kidding me?"

Vanellope looks up.

"What Josh?"

Josh walks to the screen.

"I saw this exact same Tower in my dream. It was like…I was there inside the game looking right up at it."

Plague sees it too.

"Yep. That's the Tower."

"Show me what else you found E.D.I."

"News reports are stating an unknown tower has appeared out of nowhere and has settled close by near a city."

Josh narrows his eyes hearing that.

"Are you serious?"

"I always am Josh."

"Are you telling me this Tower appeared out of the game and right here in the real world?"

"Yes."

Josh looks back at everyone and back at E.D.I.

"How can you be so sure it's the same one?"

E.D.I. pulls up an image of the Tower from the game. Josh sees it. E.D.I. then brings up another image from the news real and show an identical match between each. 100% identical shows below the images. Josh is just…shocked.

"This…This is just…crazy."

Plague taps her toes.

"I've seen crazier." Plague says

Josh turns around looking funny at Plague. He bobs his head up and down and grabs his coat.

"I'm going to get her." Josh says walking around

Everyone looks at Josh with shocked expressions on their faces. Plague blinks like she just heard something crazy. Josh gets close to the elevator and Plague swooshes and appears right in front of him.

"You nuts or something?"

Josh shrugs.

"Kind of…when it's needed."

"Did you not hear a word I was saying?"

"Every word. Excuse me."

Josh moves ahead but Plague stops him.

"You want to free that girl? After Cyrus locked her up?"

"Yeah."

"Do you not see what I'm seeing? There's a REASON why he locked her up."

"He's afraid of her. I can use that fear against Cyrus."

"Fear is a stretch with this girl Josh. I'm telling you straight up. You'll be dead before you get a word out to her."

"Then I guess I'll have to be extra convincing then."

Footsteps are heard and Josh turns around. All his friends are there as well. Josh sighs.

"You guys too?"

"I hate to say it but…Plague is right', Calhoun says, Josh nearly flinches, 'We're dealing with an unknown variable. And if Plague's story is true…"

"It IS." Plague says firmly

Calhoun sighs.

"Fine. If Plague's telling the truth, you're walking right into trap that Cyrus probably didn't even plan."

"That's a risk I have to take Calhoun."

"Josh. Don't go. Not this time." Ralph says

"I have to Ralph. I have to try."

"Josh." Felix says

"Felix. You know me to well to sit this out."

Josh looks at Vanellope and she looks down. She doesn't say anything and Josh looks back at Plague.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to."

"That's right I don't want to go. I want to live."

"Yeah, well you won't live long enough, none of you if Cyrus beats all of us.', Josh walks past Plague and raises the door to the elevator, he looks back at everyone, 'All of you can stay here. Limit the number of casualties. I'm going. I'm getting this so called 'princess' out of this Tower and bringing her here."

Plague looks confused.

"This girl ain't no 'princess' Josh."

Josh scuffs.

"Well, according to my little friend before all this, he referred her to as a princess.', Josh hits the switch and goes down, 'See you all later…I hope…"

Josh goes down and everyone just watches.

Inside the Garage…

Josh hops on his bike and almost puts on his helmet. He pauses and slowly looks over to his left and sees that pickup truck the gang used that night to bust Josh out. Josh shakes his head seeing that it's still here.

"Josh Litwak: The Terrorist. Now I can add grand theft auto to my list of records."

Josh sighs hard and puts on his helmet. Behind him, Vanellope walks out of the elevator and sees Josh about to leave.

"Josh.', Josh roars the engine and Vanellope screams even louder, 'JOSH!"

Josh looks back and sees Vanellope behind him. He turns off the bike and lifts up the helmet.

"Vanellope. What's up?"

"Do you really have to go?" Vanellope asks with a worried look on her face

Josh blinks and gets off his bike. He kneels down in front of Vanellope.

"I have to go Vanellope."

"Why? Why is this girl so important?"

"Because she scared Cyrus. I can guess that nothing much frightens him, but if this girl does, then I have to at least try and free her."

"Plague says she's dangerous."

"So is Plague and you see her standing right next to me."

"She's not locked in that Tower."

Josh sighs.

"I know."

"Please don't go."

Josh blinks and sees Vanellope really worried about him. He moves closer and puts his hands on both of Vanellope's shoulders.

"I promise I'll come back. Nothing bad will happen."

Vanellope nods and Josh sees.

"Don't I always keep my promises?"

Vanellope sniffs and nods again.

"Yeah…you do."

Josh sort of smiles and looks to the side where the pickup truck is.

"By the way, why's that truck still here?"

Vanellope looks and puts her hands in her hoody.

"I don't know. Forgot about it I guess."

"Did you four…'borrow' it or something?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

Josh closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"Because I can tell it was 'borrowed'."

"Please be safe Josh."

Josh stands back up and nods. He walks back to his bike and leaves. Josh shoots a bolt at the Garage door and exits the building. Out on the streets, Josh calls in at E.D.I. for the directions to the Tower.

"E.D.I., give me directions to where the Tower is."

"Yes Josh."

E.D.I. uploads the coordinates and Josh sees them on his GPS.

"The Tower is exactly thirty eight miles away from your current location. It will take you exactly forty five minutes given the route I've made out for you."

"Thanks E.D.I. I'll see you later, I hope."

Josh throttles back and speeds ahead.

Forty Five Minutes Later…

Blocks away from the Tower…

Josh arrives and sees some streets blocked off by military forces. He pulls over to the side and hides his bike. Josh walks around the corner and sees military roadblocks blocking his path on his way to the Tower.

"Are you kidding me? The Army is here?', Josh reaches for his phone and calls E.D.I., 'E.D.I.? E.D.I.!"

"Yes Josh, what is it?"

"I've run into a small problem here."

"What is the problem?"

Josh looks back around the corner and sees the soldiers, tanks and automatic weapons.

"There's military forces surrounding the Tower!"

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Now's not the time to be making jokes E.D.I. Why are they here?"

"I wasn't aware of the military forces there Josh, I was busy analyzing the data', Josh shakes his head hearing this from E.D.I. making it sound like it's Josh's fault, 'I'm scanning reports to why there at the Tower."

"Okay. And also, find me another way to that Tower without getting caught by these guys."

"Very well. Scanning…"

Josh waits and looks back behind the corner. He looks in the distance and sees fog covering the entire block down the street.

"According to reports, an unidentified object was seen flying around the Tower."

Josh looks completely lost.

"Unidentified object? Don't tell me the reports say these idiots saw an U.F.O. or something out here."

"It does not say exactly what they saw, but it was something very big, flying around the Tower. The military was called in when the Tower first appeared."

Josh nods.

"Out of nowhere, right?"

"That is correct', Josh sighs, 'I have uploaded a discreet path to the Tower. But it seems like my scans come to a stop anywhere close to the Tower's presence."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Why's that?"

"Unknown. Once you get closer to the Tower Josh, you won't be able to reach me."

Josh slowly sighs and nods.

"Okay E.D.I.. Thanks. Josh out."

Josh hangs up and takes the route E.D.I. gave him to the Tower. As Josh gets close to the military road block, he won't be able to pass unless the soldiers are distracted. Josh looks around for something to distract them with; he looks and sees military Humvee just sitting around. Josh smirks and points his staff at it. He looks down the staff as he would look down a sniper's scope. Josh aims perfectly align with the Humvee and fires a small bolt. The bolt hits the Humvee and it short circuits: the lights flash on and off, the horn honks like crazy, anything electronic in it just goes crazy and the soldiers take notice.

This gives Josh the chance to sneak by without raising an alarm. He quietly sneaks past the soldiers and down the abandoned street. The entire area has been emptied out. It's like a giant ghost town. Josh keeps his staff glued to his back, but he keeps his hand on the handle part of it just in case. As Josh continues more down the street, a loud screech sound is heard…

"Huh?"

Josh looks up at the grey sky, but it's hard to see anything past the fog. He looks closer, hearing the sound of that screeching he heard. As Josh looks, he sees something flying around in the sky. It looks like its flying straight towards Josh.

"Crap!"

Josh runs to a couple of abandoned vehicles and hides behind them. He can hear the sound of the wind being pulled around in the sky. The sound of the wind sounds like…wings being flapped. Josh crawls underneath one of the parked cars and hides directly underneath it. He breathes slowly hearing nothing but complete silence. Then suddenly, BOOOM! Cars jump and Josh just looks around. The footsteps stomp the ground and Josh sees it just shake.

"What the hell is that?"

The footsteps approach near Josh closer, and suddenly a bright red light is seen looking around the cars Josh is hiding under. Josh holds his breath trying not to breathe heavily. He sees the light before him; Josh narrows his eyes wondering where that red light is coming from. After a few more seconds, the light changes to green and Josh sees it. He narrows his eyes and suddenly the creature jumps up and flies away. Josh now breathes out slowly and crawls out. As Josh crawls out, he looks both ways wondering what that thing was. He looks up at a street light flashing green and red signals.

"Couldn't be… could it?"

Josh shakes his head and continues further down the street. As Josh runs down the street, he begins to get a clear sight of the Tower finally.

"Here it is', but as Josh gets closer and closer to it, he sees how tall it really is, as the fog moves out of the way revealing it's structure, 'Whoa…"

The Tower's structure is built all the way around in a complete circle. It goes so high up, the top floor, maybe where the girl is, hovers out a bit showing different sections. Josh nods and sees the top of the Tower.

"That's where she must be…', walks ahead, 'Why would Cyrus put here in a place like this?"

_And I still don't understand how I had an exact same dream about this Tower too. Same with Plague…are Hero's powers showing me something? I don't really understand…_

Josh makes it to the Tower's front doors and sees them as blast doors. He examines them carefully.

"Hmmm…open sesame?"

Josh shakes his head and looks to the side of the blast doors. There seems to be a palm reader to enter. Josh walks to it and sees the sign above it saying 'Authorized Personal Only'. He looks at his hand and slowly puts it on it. Some of Josh's electricity shoots out his hand and into the reader.

"**Identity accepted. Welcome Hero."**

Josh looks at his hand as the blast doors open.

"Again? Weird…"

Josh walks past the blast doors as they close right behind him.

The Tower, Bottom Floor…

Josh walks further into the darkened room. Its pitch black and Josh sighs hard.

"Lights?', nothing happens, Josh snaps his thumbs and grabs his staff, 'Duh, I have my own light."

Josh sends out some bolts into his staff making a lighting flashlight. Blue bolts shoots around his staff guiding his way.

"Much better." Josh says walking ahead

Josh walks down the narrow hallway and sees an elevator down it. He walks closer to it and pushes the button. A couple seconds go by, the elevator dings and it takes a second for the elevator's doors to open. They get stuck and Josh jabs his staff between them and forces them to open. He climbs through and guides his staff around to see the buttons.

"I'm probably the only person who's been in here in a LONG time."

Josh sees several switches leading to different floors of the Tower. He sees the top button which says 'Subject Living Quarters'.

"Huh…that's where I want to go."

As Josh goes to press it, the button malfunctions and literally falls off the wall. Josh shakes his head.

"Wonderful…', looks at the other buttons below that one and sees 'Testing Lab', 'Okay, it's right below it…maybe I can get up from there."

Josh pushes the button and the elevator doors close slowly. A woman's voice over the intercom speaks out but it's really old and distorted.

"**Te-Te-Te-Testing La-La-La-La…..', Josh shoots a bolt at it and gets less annoyed, 'Arriving at Testing Lab. Have a nice day."**

Josh shakes his head.

"I'll try."

The elevator climbs as Josh goes to the Testing Lab.

Testing Lab…

The elevator stops and rings. The doors open and Josh slowly walks out. He holds his staff firmly seeing the Testing Lab before him. There's several rooms are labeled for different testing ways. Josh just looks around wondering why such a place would be under where the subject lives.

"Look at this place…', Josh looks around, 'What kind of experiment where these people doing?"

Josh walks down the hallway and past the labeled rooms. He sees the labeled rooms for what they're supposed to be for; Josh passes up one stating 'Subject Records'. Josh stops at that one and looks back at it.

"'Subject Records'…', Josh puts his staff on his back, 'Might have what she does in there."

Josh walks in the room and looks around. He opens a door revealing a large room with scattered chairs all over the place. Josh looks to the far right and sees a film screen and a projector to the left. He walks towards it and sees the digital readout of the certain buttons. As Josh looks around and finds it, he finds a record log of the subject's recent activities. Josh shrugs and picks it up; he also hits the 'Play' button on the projector as the video starts up. He walks to a seat and sets it up straight and sits down. Josh peers up and down at the screen seeing the words Subject's Escape Attempt: #342. The video footage shows from a security camera showing the subject trying to escape her room at a very large blast door. Josh narrows his eyes and opens the log books before him.

"'_Subject again tries to escape her holding cell. Lock attempt failed, freezing the door failed', _freezing the door?', Josh looks up at the screen and sees something strange is happening as the subject attacks the door, looks back at log, '_Subject does not quit trying to escape holding. Personal note: Why doesn't see stop?' _Here's your answer, doesn't want to stay here obviously."

Josh looks up at the screen and sees the footage change. Subject Reading Books. The camera footage shows the subject just reading numerous books all around her. The camera footage doesn't show her face to Josh. He looks down at the logs and flips the page.

"'_Subject shows taking a special interest in reading. Teaching herself how to read must have been tough without understand what a letter is, so the hundreds of books she has to read, should keep her at bay for a while'_. Yeah, how long exactly is 'A while'…"

Josh look up back at the screen and the screen changes. Subject Eating.

"Eating? Seriously?"

The footage continues on showing every bit of the lifestyle of the girl. Her dressing, singing, painting, reading, looking around, anything a human does, the film shows it. Josh looks down and reads the logs and finally just shuts them.

"My God…', Josh covers his mouth, leans back in the chair and looks up at the screen, 'They've been watching her for her entire life…this is horrible."

Josh gets up and shuts off the projector. He sighs slowly and shakes his head trying to forget what he saw. Josh exits the Subject's Records room and continues further down the hallway. As Josh walks further down the hallway, he passes up a room with glass walls all around, and inside the room is a chair with straps on the arms and straps around the place where the feet go. Josh sees it and continues on.

"What the hell were they doing to her?"

Josh looks up ahead and sees the sign saying 'Subject Living Quarters'. He quickly hurries to it and sees a flight of stairs that will lead him up to the girl.

Subject Living Quarters…

Josh climbs the stairs and sees a blast door in front of him. He looks to the side and sees a switch. Josh pulls it down and the light above the blast door changes from red to green. The door lifts up and Josh goes into it. As Josh goes into it, he finds himself in corridors around where the girl lives.

"Feels like I'm in a maze or something."

Josh walks ahead around a catwalk to another section of the place. As Josh walks, he looks back and spots an elevator that goes back down to ground level.

"Okay…"

Josh continues on and comes up to another blast door. He pulls the lever down to open it and goes in. Josh enters the small room and sees windows around him in two different spots. He looks up and reads 'Subject's Bedroom'. Josh looks ahead and sees another lever. Josh pulls it and suddenly the windows lift up showing the girl's room.

"What…the?" Josh asks looking through

The two windows show different angles of the girl's room. Josh tries locating the girl but can't see much from what he's being shown.

"She ain't here…where is she?!"

A blinking light appears below Josh and Josh looks down.

"Huh?"

A light blinks showing where the girl is. Josh looks closer and sees the light is blinking indicating the girl is in the Living Room. He looks to his left and sees another door. Josh goes through it finding the room looking into the Living Room.

"Okay…okay, here we go."

Josh pulls down on the switch and the windows move up. For the first time ever, Josh finally sees the subject, the girl for the first time. He blinks slowly seeing her sitting down reading a book, happy and enjoying the story in front of her.

"It's…It's her…"

She suddenly looks up and Josh sees. She gets up and walks to the window Josh is looking at. She begins to check herself out from the reflection. Josh starts waving his hands.

"Hey. Hey! Can you see me? Hello?', Josh bangs his staff on the window and she doesn't even respond at all, Josh examines the window, 'One way mirror? Sound proof glass?"

Josh looks as the girl fixes her hair from the ponytail behind her head and steps back. She looks down at her hand and carefully looks at a bandage wrapped around her right hand. Josh takes notice and she walks away.

"Hey, hey!', Josh makes a face, 'Duh, she can't hear me."

Josh looks down at the board and sees she's moving to the Gallery.

"The Gallery huh?"

Josh looks to his right and sees the other door and goes on through there. Josh opens the window and sees the girl looking at all her paintings she drew all her life. Josh sees the improvement on the wall from left to right. He nods from the amazing work.

"Girl's got talent.', the girl walks past each of her paintings and gazing at a specific one, a handmade drawing of the Eiffel Tower in Pairs, 'The Eiffel Tower?', Josh watches as the girl picks it up off the wall and walks away with it, 'And this is the girl who's supposedly frightens Cyrus? What the hell does she do to scare him?"

Josh turns and walks through the other door. Suddenly the room shakes.

"WHOA!"

Josh looks back at the windows and sees a bright light happening at an angle Josh can't even see. The room continues to shake and suddenly the light goes away and the shaking stops. Josh breathes slowly wondering what just happened.

"O….kay?"

Josh continues on and finds the board showing where she's at. He looks and sees that she's in the Library.

"The Library?', sighs slowly and looks at the switch ahead, Josh pushes it and sees the girl looking out a window of the grey sky in front of her, 'I hope she doesn't mind checking out of this place for good."

Josh walks through the door and finds himself outside the quarters.

"Now how can I get inside there?"

Josh looks up and sees a catwalk walking over the Living Quarters. He nods and walks up the steps. As Josh walks around the catwalks above, he breathes slowly seeing his breath in front of him.

"Huh?', Josh slowly breathes out and sees his breath, 'Wha?', Josh moves in more and starts to feel cold, 'God, it's freezing up here! Someone leave the freezer door open or something? Must be below thirty!"

As Josh walks ahead he sees a catwalk sort of bent out of shape.

"Oh great…"

Josh sees it very loose so he carefully steps on it.

"Okay, nice and slow."

Josh takes each step carefully and hears loud creaks. He pauses the second it moves and remains still. Josh moves ahead again more slowly and hears a loud creak.

"Oh no."

The bolts and screws giveaway and the catwalk gives.

"AH!"

The catwalk falls and Josh holds on. He slides his feet up against the catwalk but they just slide.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

As Josh gets more serious from falling straight down, the electricity from him shoots out and hooks around the metal catwalk. Josh sees.

"Oh no…"

The current flies back hitting Josh causing it to hurt him. Josh struggles to ignore but the more angry he gets, he more electricity shoots out.

"AHHHH!" Josh yells grinding his teeth

Josh's fingers slowly start to give away and finally…Josh lets go. He falls backwards down above to the ceiling of the Library. He crashes through and spins around. The girl turns and sees Josh as Josh quickly grabs onto the ledge before him from falling further down into the room.

"Ahhh! Ahh…oh God! Phew! Man that hurt!"

The girl slowly walks to the edge where Josh is holding on to. Josh grunts and pulls himself up, and as he does, he sees the girl before him with a curious look on her face.

"Uhhh…hi!"

Suddenly she screams.

"AHHHHH!"

"WHOA!"

The girl comes forth and smacks Josh on the head with the book in her hand.

"OW! SON OF A!"

Josh lets go with one hand and rubs his head. He looks back at the girl.

"What was that for!?"

Again, the girl hits Josh's one hand that's holding on hard and he lets go.

"AHHH! WHOAA!"

Josh falls backwards again and lands on the floor.

"UH! OH! OWWW!', Josh rolls around on the floor, 'I take it back…she IS dangerous."

The girl walks to the ledge and throws a book down at Josh. It ends up hitting his shoulder.

"AHAHH! STOP!"

The girl runs around the edge down some stairs. Josh shakes his head and gets to his knees seeing the girl ready to throw another book at him.

"Hey! Stop!', Josh dodges another book being thrown at him as the girl picks up another one, 'Stop it! Stop it right now!" Josh orders pointing his hand at her

The girl throws another book and Josh catches it and drops it. The girl hides right behind the bottom of the stairs railing and Josh slowly starts to get up.

"Stop it! Do not throw another book at me! Those things are heavy, and dangerous if used wrongly!"

The girl picks up again another book and runs at Josh. He sees.

"Hey, hey! Whoa!', Josh yells slipping backwards falling on his back, he looks up at the girl standing above him, she holds the book up high as if she's going to hit it with him personally, 'Don't hit me! I'm not going to hurt you or anything!"

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

Josh breathes heavily after going through that battle. He sighs slowly and gets up.

"What am I doing here?', the girl watches as Josh stands up before her, 'Well, let me answer your first question', Josh breathes slowly, 'My name is Josh Litwak. Now for your second question, I'm here to get you out of here."

Josh approaches her and she steps back.

"Don't come near me!"

"Hey!"

As the girl tries to hit Josh with the book, he catches her hands and stops her from hitting him.

"Stop hitting me! STOP!"

Both Josh and the girl breathe heavily and Josh backs up. The girl narrows her eyes just studying Josh.

"I'm telling you the truth…I'm not going to hurt you." Josh says calmly

The girl slowly drops the book and walks closer to Josh. She lends out her hand and Josh flinches.

"Are…Are you real?"

Josh blinks as the girl touches his face.

"Am I real? You just threw four books at me, how am I not?"

"I'm-I'm sorry. I've just…I've never seen anyone else here before."

Josh gulps to hearing that. He looks around the Library and back at the girl.

"How long have you been here for?"

The girl gulps.

"Twenty years, nine months, forty two weeks and…', thinks for a moment, 'four days."

Josh blinks shockingly to hear her say the accurate time.

"Basically…your whole life?"

"Yes."

"Uh-huh. Could have just said that." Josh says backing up

"I like to be exact."

Josh backs up and turns his head around. He sees a chair and looks back at the girl.

"May I?"

The girl sees and nods.

"Absolutely. Sure. Have a seat."

Josh nods and slowly sits down.

"Thank you', gets comfortable, 'Oooh…okay…I needed this."

The girl slowly sits down across from Josh. She watches him as he rubs his head. Josh looks at his hand and back at the girl.

"You know my name. What's yours?"

The girl blinks and looks down. Josh just looks at her and stares at her. The girl hesitates with the question Josh asked her. Josh just waits patiently.

"Elizabeth.', Elizabeth says closing her eyes, Josh just blinks, 'My names Elizabeth."

Josh sort of smiles and Elizabeth opens her eyes.

"That's a nice name."

Elizabeth sort of smiles. Josh continues to look at Elizabeth. Elizabeth brushes back some of hair dark brown hair. Josh sees that Elizabeth also has blue eyes like him. She has a childish like attitude about her; Josh sees she's keeping to herself far away from him. He looks down and sees her softly rubbing her hand with the bandage over her right hand. Elizabeth wears a short blue skirt passed her knees with a tight closed button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Josh feels his shoulder where Elizabeth through the book and stands up. Elizabeth notices and stands up too.

"Do you have anything here you want to bring with you?"

Elizabeth blinks and takes a step back.

"Why?"

Josh gulps and takes a step forward.

"I'm getting you out of here Elizabeth. That's why I'm here. Do you want to leave?"

Elizabeth backs up wondering what she wants. Josh narrows his eyes and Elizabeth looks back at Josh serious.

"Yes. I do. And no. There's nothing here I want."

Josh nods with a smirk.

"All right then."

As Josh takes a step forward. A loud SCREECH is heard and Josh and Elizabeth look up.

"What the hell was that?"

Elizabeth touches her lips.

"Oh no, he's coming!"

Josh looks back down at Elizabeth.

"Who's coming?"

Elizabeth walks to Josh and nudges him.

"You don't want to be here when he gets here!"

"Who are you talking about?"

A loud BANG is heard like something handed on the roof of the Tower. Josh looks up. Elizabeth looks up too.

"He's here. Um, welcome back!', Josh narrows his eyes at Elizabeth as she speaks to the thing on top of the roof, 'Just give me a minute please!"

"Elizabeth?"

"Quick, hide!"

"Let's just get out of here!"

"I have tried; there is no way out of here!"

Josh looks around and sees the blast door right behind Elizabeth that literally says 'EXIT'.

"What about…"

Another loud SCREECH is heard and the two look up.

"Stop it! I can hear you! I'm making something, just be patient!" Elizabeth yells

Josh gets serious and points.

"What about that big ass door that says 'EXIT' on it?"

Elizabeth looks back at the door and looks back up.

"It won't open, I have tried countless times. It requires a lot of energy to open."

Josh tilts his head.

"Energy?"

"Yes! A lot of it."

Josh nods and walks past Elizabeth. Another SCREECH is heard and Elizabeth looks up.

"I'm almost done! Hold on!"

Josh walks to the door and examines it. He places his hands against it and feels the electricity from his body going into the door. Elizabeth turns around.

"What are you…', sees Josh and his electricity shooting out from him and into the door, 'doing?"

Josh shocks up the door for a few more seconds and finally the door gets enough juice to lift up. He throws his arms down and sighs.

"Phew…now that's open sesame…"

Elizabeth runs at Josh and to the side of him.

"What are you?"

Josh slowly turns like he's drunk.

"The guy getting you out of here', Elizabeth just blinks, Josh waves his hand, 'Shall we?"

Elizabeth looks ahead and just runs for it. Josh flinches seeing how quickly Elizabeth is moving. Josh moves ahead and sees Elizabeth all the way down a long set of stairs.

"Elizabeth!"

"THIS WAY! Hurry!"

Josh runs down the steps and suddenly the entire building shakes. He loses his balance from it.

"WHOA!"

The screeching gets louder and the shaking gets harder.

"Hurry!" Elizabeth yells

"What the hell is that?!"

"Just come on!"

Josh makes it down the stairs and sees Elizabeth all the way down the hallway.

"What the hell is that?!"

The screeching and rumbling continues.

"It's his job to keep me here!"

"Who!?" Josh yells running around the corner caching up to Elizabeth

"I'll explain on the way!"

The two run along the catwalk with each other and Elizabeth looks at Josh trying to keep her balance from the terrible shaking.

"Who are you again? Why are you helping me?" Elizabeth asks looking at Josh

Josh shrugs and makes a face.

"I'll explain on the way!"

Elizabeth rolls her eyes and sighs. The ceiling starts to come down and the two cover their heads. They run through one of the small rooms looking into Elizabeth's room. Josh looks back and on one of the walls, claw marks pierce the wall and rip it to shreds.

"The hell WAS that!?" Josh yells

"Keep running!"

Josh trips on some rubble and Elizabeth slides as she looks back.

"Hey!"

Josh waves his hand.

"Go! Get to the elevator!"

Elizabeth runs through another small room and to the elevator Josh saw from earlier. Josh pushes the debris off of him and gets up.

"Push the button!"

"The what!?"

Josh looks and sees the shaking is getting worse.

"For Christ sake what the hell is that thing!?"

Josh makes it to Elizabeth and she presses the button several times. The two wait as the elevator comes. Elizabeth turns around and looks through the windows that are seen through. She looks confused and shocked as she stares into them.

"Wait…that's…that's my room..', Elizabeth says walking towards it, Josh sees, 'Someone was watching me? Why? Who did this to me?! Why did they put me in here?!"

The shaking gets worse.

"I'll explain everything later, first we need to get out of here!"

The elevator comes and Josh sees.

"Let's go!"

Josh and Elizabeth get ready to board the elevator but suddenly it gets pushed up by the creature screeching and destroying the building.

"WHOA!" Josh yells

Josh pushes Elizabeth back and protects her from this enormous creature. He watches as this, thing bashes it's head through the elevator door trying to barge in. Its red glowing eyes shine hard and Josh covers his face from the brightness. The creature has a giant beak and uses it to widen the hole. Josh pushes Elizabeth back as the two move as far back as possible. But just as they think it's going to come in, the elevator comes smashing down and throwing it down the elevator shaft. Josh and Elizabeth see and stand up. Josh moves out first and sees a long dark hole beneath him. He looks across the shaft and sees a stair case.

"There! We have to jump." Josh says backing up

Elizabeth sees the gap and looks back at Josh.

"Jump?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah."

Josh runs and Elizabeth backs up.

"Oh!" Elizabeth says covering her mouth

Josh jumps the gap and lands on the other side. He rolls and quickly pushes himself back up. Elizabeth looks and Josh waves his hand.

"Come on! Your turn!"

Elizabeth looks down at the deep hole and shakes her head.

"I can't. I can't!"

"Yes you can! I'll catch you! Trust me! Just look at me when you run, and jump!"

Elizabeth shakes her head and slowly moves back.

"Hurry! It's coming back!"

Elizabeth pauses and tries to get ready to make her jump. Josh looks down the hole and feels the shaking again.

"Run! RUN!"

Elizabeth runs and jumps the gap. Josh throws out his arms and Elizabeth lands into him and he falls back. Josh holds her tightly so she doesn't roll away or even fall off. The two breathe heavily and look at each other.

"Nice."

Elizabeth nods.

"Thanks."

"Let's go!"

Elizabeth nods and the two run up the stairs quickly. As the two run up the stairs, the building is literally falling apart. Elizabeth notices.

"He's tearing the building apart!"

"Watch your step Elizabeth! Keep moving!"

The two continue to climb the stairs. They finally reach the top and Elizabeth tries to open the door.

"It won't open!"

"Let me try!"

Elizabeth moves out of the way and Josh tries the door himself. He tries to turn the big wheel but it won't budge. Josh throws his staff between it and tries to turn it that way but nothing works.

"It won't budge!"

Elizabeth walks to the side of Josh and puts her hands on the knob as well.

"Will try together."

Josh looks at Elizabeth and nods.

"Okay, ready?', Elizabeth nods, Josh holds the knob tightly, 'Okay, one, two, three!"

The two struggle to pry the door open. As the two start to turn it, Josh realizes its turning and also notices that the knob is getting, for some reason, colder. Josh ignores that observation and the door finally opens.

"Go!"

Josh and Elizabeth run out of the room.

Outside

Top of the Tower…

The two run out and Josh closes the door. He turns around and sees there right outside along the Tower and it's really windy.

"Where now?!"

"UP!" Josh screams

Josh and Elizabeth run up. As they go up, the screeching gets worse and Josh looks out into the fog and sees…something flying around them. Josh gets Elizabeth up to the top of the Tower and…there's nowhere left to run. They both see it.

"There's-There's nowhere else to run!" Elizabeth yells

Josh looks around and suddenly the roof slants down and the two fall. The two scream as they get thrown off the roof and fall back down to Earth. Elizabeth screams as Josh tries to control his decent.

"Elizabeth! Grab my hand! GRAB MY HAND!"

Elizabeth spins around and sees Josh waving his hand out. She continues to scream and reaches out for his hand finally. Josh holds it tight as the two start to spin around.

"Look at me! DON'T LOOK DOWN! KEEP LOOKING AT ME!"

Josh grabs his staff and looks to the side of the Tower. Metal piping sticks out from the side and loops around going down.

"HANG ON!" Josh yells

Josh throws the staff onto the piping and the two slide all around in a loop around the Tower. As the two continue to descend down, Josh looks off to the side and gets a clear view of the creature. It's gigantic, flying around and is destroying everything in sight. Josh just holds on tight to Elizabeth as they continue to loop around to the ground. The creature comes flying down below the two and breaks off a large section of the piping. Josh looks below and sees what the creature has done. It's only a matter of seconds before they come to it.

"OH SHIT! Where out of road!"

"Huh!?"

Josh and Elizabeth see the broken piping and the two sour through the air.

"ELIZABETH!"

The two fall straight down to the ground as it starts to become clear. They scream at the top of their lungs seeing their demise only in a few seconds. Josh looks back up at the sky and sees the creature flying straight towards him reaching out to him. Elizabeth below looks at Josh seeing he's not looking. She shuts her eyes really hard and waves her hands around. From Josh's point of view, he sees the…bird like creature reaching out for him and suddenly a bright light shines past him distracting the birds view and falling back. Josh starts to black out as he sees the light shine all around him. Josh just sees black and finally…passes out.

End of Chapter 13…

Preview of Chapter 14…

Upon waking up, Josh finds out he and Elizabeth somehow survived the fall. Not understanding how, Josh still has one main objective. Get Elizabeth back to his Apartment. But that seems to be more difficult than it sounds. Elizabeth was locked in that Tower her whole life, she doesn't understand why and what or who Cyrus is. Or his husks. A lot has to be learned between the two, and it's a long walk home. Next time On Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 14 – The Way Home


	14. Chapter 14 - The Way Home

(Hello Readers, sorry for the long wait. I have been playing _The Last of Us_. Awesome game, but I'm trying to get a lot of the stuff inside the game done, so the next chapter might take a while. I will work on and off it but it won't be done as quickly as it usually is. I'm sorry Readers, I really am. I will try to upload the next Chapter as quickly as I can. Thank you, enjoy)

Chapter 14 – The Way Home

Josh's Bedroom…

8 years ago…

Josh is sound asleep. Thunder strikes and Josh opens his eyes to hearing the sound of rain and thunder from outside his window. Josh looks up to see it, and then he puts his head back down into the pillow.

"Ahh!" Jas yells from the other room

Josh reopens his eyes and hears the yell of his brother coming from the other room.

"Jas?" Josh asks getting up

Josh walks out of his room and rubs his eyes. Another lighting strike hits hard and loud. The hallway shakes as Josh walks to his brother's room.

"AHHHH!" Jas screams

Josh walks to Jas's room and grabs the doorknob.

"Jas? Jas."

Josh turns the knob but it seems to be stuck.

"What the?"

Josh uses all his strength to turn the knob but it just doesn't seem to turn.

"What is going on?', Josh bangs on the door to Jas's room, 'Jas! Jas! Open up! It's Josh!"

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth asks from behind Josh

Josh narrows his eyes and turns around slowly.

"Huh?', Josh sees Elizabeth leaning against the wall behind him, 'Who…Who are you?"

"What will you do now?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is this real?"

Josh turns back around and starts attacking the door.

"Jas! JAS! OPEN THE DOOR!"

"AHHHH!" Jas yells

"JAS! OPEN THE DOOR!"

"It won't open." Elizabeth says calmly

Josh turns around and points hard at Elizabeth.

"Open this door!"

"No."

"OPEN THIS DOOR, RIGHT NOW!"

A 'click' is heard revealing to be the lock of the knob. Josh turns and quickly opens it only to find a bright light shining in his face.

Present Day…

Park…

Josh gasps loudly trying to catch his breath. He opens his eyes which are blurry, Josh sees Elizabeth giving him CPR by pounding hard on his heart.

"Eliza…Eliza…" Josh tries saying

Elizabeth pounds even harder and looks at Josh. She sort of smiles Josh shuts his eyes again and passes out. Sometime later, Josh starts to come back but ends up talking in his sleep.

"Jas…Jas…Jason…', opens eyes finally, 'Jason?"

Josh's eyes are first very blurry and they start to go back to normal. He sees Elizabeth right above him.

"No. It's not 'Jason'. It's me, Elizabeth."

Josh blinks seeing that Elizabeth has his head on her lap. He breathes slowly looking up at the blue sky right behind her.

"Elizabeth?"

"Are you all right?"

Josh blinks and tries moving around.

"Where are we?"

"Some place safe. Everything is all right now."

Josh shakes his head and smiles.

"At the very moment, everything is not all right."

"Don't worry so much. Just gather your strength."

Josh slowly nods and shuts his eyes.

"All right, all right."

Josh gets comfortable but then, realizes something. He shoots open his eyes.

"Wait!', Elizabeth flinches and Josh sits up straight, 'How did we get from up there', Josh asks pointing up, he slowly points down, 'To down here without killing ourselves?"

Elizabeth looks around for an answer and thinks of something. She looks back at Josh.

"You don't remember?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Remember what?"

"Um, you did something. I-I-I don't know what, but it saved us both."

Josh shakes his head and rubs it. Elizabeth looks around for something to change the subject.

"Um, you should rest. You really need it after that fall. Come on. Lay back down."

Josh shakes his head as Elizabeth tries to pull him back down.

"No, I'm…I'm, just give me a second."

"You really need the rest."

"I'm fine Elizabeth. Just give me a second, okay?"

Elizabeth narrows her one eye eyeing Josh seeing how 'tough' he's trying to be. Josh takes a deep breath and looks around the Park he's in. People are everywhere enjoying the beautiful day. Elizabeth looks around and suddenly, a small band in the Park in the distance plays their music. Elizabeth pays attention to it and looks in the direction of where it's coming from.

"Do you hear that?" Elizabeth asks with an excited look on her face

Josh gets his feet on the ground and shakes his head.

"Huh? Oh yeah…it's just street performers probably."

"It's so beautiful…', Elizabeth gets up and walks ahead, Josh keeps his head down catching his breath still, Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'Can, Can I go see them? Please?"

Josh looks at Elizabeth seeing her ask like a little child would do to her parents to go see the performers. Josh waves his hand.

"Yeah, yeah…go ahead. Just give me another second here."

Elizabeth gets more excited.

"Thank you! Thank you Mr. Litwak, I won't be long, I promise!"

Elizabeth runs off and Josh leans against the bench he's resting on. Josh finally gets up and loses his balance.

"Whoa!"

Josh breathes heavily and leans back on the bench. He sees his staff and takes it and uses it at a cane. Josh looks around for Elizabeth.

"Now where is Elizabeth? She said something about that music she heard…"

Josh walks ahead using his staff as a cane. He follows the music being played out through the Park and sees a crowd up ahead.

"That must be it…"

Josh hurries and walks through the crowd.

"Excuse me, pardon me, limp man coming through."

Josh makes it to the front of the crowd. And load and behold, Elizabeth is dancing in front of the musicians to the music their performing. Josh shakes his head seeing how childish she's acting just dancing around as the audience claps for her. Josh puts his hand to his face really hard and wipes it down seeing how Elizabeth is acting. He sighs hard and walks up to her.

"Elizabeth. Elizabeth.', Elizabeth continues to dance as the crowd laughs and claps for her, he gets more annoyed and gets it out, 'Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth spins around one last time and smiles happily to see Josh.

"This is absolutely wonderful! I've never had so much fun in my life!', Josh shakes his head and Elizabeth lends out her hands, 'Dance with me Mr. Litwak. It's so much fun!"

Josh looks serious.

"I don't dance in public.', Elizabeth looks like she doesn't believe him, Josh waves his hands, 'Come on, we have to go."

"Go? Go where? Where can someplace else be better than this place?"

Josh thinks for a second and remembers the Eiffel Tower he saw in Elizabeth's room at that time. He scratches his chin.

"Oh, well, how about the Eiffel Tower in Paris?"

Elizabeth's eyes almost shoot out of her head and she covers her mouth.

"Pa-Paris?! That's-That's, I've always wanted to go there, how are you going to get there?!"

Josh looks back.

"I know a quick short cut', Josh looks back at Elizabeth, 'I can see that you're busy here though, if you'd rather stay here and dance…"

"No! No, let's go! I'm dying to go!"

Josh smirks as Elizabeth runs out of the crowd and he follows her right behind her. Elizabeth continues to spin around excited to know that she's going to Paris. She looks around at the bright sun and blue sky.

"I still can't believe I'm out. It's so amazing.', takes deep breath, 'The air is so much better, it's so clean and rich. Don't you agree Mr. Litwak?"

"Air is air, it helps you breathe."

"Did you know, oxygen makes up around 21% of the air we breathe? It is also the most common element in the Earth's crust, around 47% and the third most common element in the Universe, but far less than hydrogen and helium, those two are the most common."

Josh narrows his eyes hearing that scientific knowledge from Elizabeth.

"And, how do you know that?"

"From one of the books I threw at you."

Josh sighs.

"I shouldn't have asked."

As the two make it out of the Park, several people come running in a certain direction. Josh and Elizabeth take notice and look at what everyone is running at.

"What's going on?" Elizabeth asks

"I have no idea."

Elizabeth looks up and flinches.

"Look." Elizabeth says pointing up

Josh diverts his eyes up, and in the distance the Tower the two were at is seen clearly from where they are standing. The entire Tower falls apart as everyone around stops to look. Some people even get out of their cars to check out the Tower falling apart. Josh looks at Elizabeth and sees her devastated by the destruction of the Tower.

"Are you alright?"

Elizabeth covers her mouth

"That was my home…"

Josh nods.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

"Let's go."

Josh and Elizabeth head in the opposite direction. As the two make it down the street, Josh spots a Bus Station sign indicating where it is. Josh waves his hand.

"This way, come on."

"So, how are we getting to Paris?"

Josh gulps.

"Uh, there's Bus Station up ahead. We get on that and we go on our way."

"Wonderful. An easy trip then?"

Josh shrugs.

"More or less."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes and follows Josh. The two make it to the Bus Terminal and head to the front entrance. As the two walk to the front entrance, Josh spots armed soldiers identifying each person who walks in. Josh looks closer and sees a picture of him on a wall stating 'Be On The Look Out For This Person'. Josh stops and Elizabeth takes notice.

"Mr. Litwak?"

"Uh, let's head to the side entrance." Josh says walking away

Elizabeth watches and shrugs.

"Okay…"

The two make it to the side entrance and find it chained up. Josh sees it and walks up to it to try and open it. But it's no use.

"Dammit! This isn't good."

Elizabeth looks at the lock and looks at Josh who's not paying attention. She smirks and walks to it as Josh walks away.

"Maybe…Maybe there's another entrance."

Elizabeth touches the lock and it breaks off the chain.

"There."

Josh turns around and sees Elizabeth broke the lock. He narrows his eyes and slowly looks up at her.

"What did you just do?"

Elizabeth looks shocked at Josh.

"And you're my savior? What does it look like, I broke the lock."

"How were you able to break the lock?"

"Trapped in that Tower with nothing but books and a lot of spare time, you do the math.', Josh shakes his head and chuckles, 'You'd be very surprised what else I can do."

"Later, let's go in."

Josh opens the door and helps Elizabeth in. Josh looks both ways before entering and shuts the door.

Bus Terminal…

Josh and Elizabeth climb a set of stairs and walk into the main hall of the Terminal. Josh looks around and scans the area.

"Come on."

Elizabeth nods and follows Josh out into the Terminal. As Josh and Elizabeth walk out, Josh notices some strange people just staring at him and Elizabeth. He narrows his eyes at them and wonders why their staring at them like that.

"Keep close."

Elizabeth gets closer to Josh and he turns his head around. Soldiers in the Terminal spot Josh and casually keep an eye on him. Josh look serious and guides Elizabeth up to the booth of the Terminal for tickets. The Booth Salesmen picks up the phone next to him and answers it as Josh and Elizabeth make it to the booth.

"Excuse me, two tickets one way please?"

"Huh? Hold on one second sir." Booth Salesmen says

"In kind of a hurry here."

"One, SECOND sir."

Josh grunts hard and peeks over his shoulder. He sees the soldiers carefully grouping together. Josh looks back at the Booth Salesmen.

"Today would be nice."

"I understand, I'll take care of it."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Can I have the tickets please?"

The Booth Salesmen puts the phone down and picks up the glass bottle near him. He turns around and looks funny at Josh. Josh narrows his eyes and suddenly the Booth Salesmen's eyes turn orange.

"_**No Josh. You may not."**_

Josh gasps and pushes Elizabeth away.

"Elizabeth get down!"

Cyrus makes the Booth Salesmen smash the glass bottle against Josh's face.

"Ah!" Josh falls down as the Booth Salesmen stands up on the desk.

"_**No traveling away today Josh."**_

__Josh shakes his head and the soldiers in the Terminal pull out their rifles and aim at Josh.

"Josh Litwak! Keep your hands where they are and don't move!" Soldier orders

Josh blinks seeing the world sideways. He slowly stands up and sees he's surrounded by the soldiers. Elizabeth continues to lie on the ground just watching.

"What are we going to do now?"

Josh clenches his fist and pulls out his staff.

"Just stay here Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks up and watches Josh take a step forward. But as Josh walks forward, the people Josh saw earlier transform into Cyrus's husks. The soldiers don't notice but the husks advance on them. Josh sees and points.

"NO! LOOK OUT!"

The husks scream and the soldiers turn around. The husks attack the soldiers infecting them with the virus from them. Josh watches in horror and continues to watch as the soldiers start to turn into the husks.

"Oh no…"

The husks in the Terminal turn and face Josh. Josh holds his staff firmly and twirls it around.

"Bring it."

The husks growl and run at Josh. Josh attacks them swinging, jumping and shooting bolts into them making them blow up into a million pieces. Elizabeth just watches in horror seeing what Josh is doing to these 'people'. At least she thinks that they are. Josh picks up one husk and slams him into the ground. Elizabeth looks around and runs away. Josh eliminates the last of the husks and looks back where Elizabeth is supposed to be.

"Elizabeth!"

Josh looks and sees her running away.

"Elizabeth, stop!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth runs away from Josh and descends down through an escalator. Josh sees where Elizabeth is heading and suddenly human soldiers surround Josh.

"Freeze! Don't move!" Soldier orders

Josh sighs and spin attacks them but only stuns them. He rushes down the escalator.

"Not in the mood for this!"

Josh makes it down the escalator and looks around for Elizabeth.

"ELIZABETH!"

Josh runs further down the Terminal looking for Elizabeth. He gets really annoyed to the fact that he lost her and she ran away.

"Ahh this is just great!"

Up ahead, Elizabeth runs ahead to an elevator. Her footsteps echo through the Terminal and Josh turns to see Elizabeth running.

"Hey! Stop!"

Elizabeth breathes heavily and runs up to the elevator. Josh sees.

"Just stay right there!"

Elizabeth pushes the button again and the doors open. She runs inside.

"Get away from me!"

"STOP!"

Josh fires a bolt at the doors as they close. They reopen up and Josh slides right between the doors as the close. Elizabeth looks around the elevator but she knows she's trapped. The two breathe heavily and Josh hits the button to make them go to ground floor. Elizabeth walks to the corner and away from Josh.

"Elizabeth…"

"You…You killed those people."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"People? What people? Those weren't people Elizabeth. FAR from it."

Elizabeth turns around with a horrified look on her face and looks hard at Josh.

"You killed those people!"

Josh sighs slowly.

"Elizabeth, they weren't…"

Elizabeth pushes Josh hard.

"You're a monster!"

Josh hits the back of the elevator and looks confused at Elizabeth. She goes back to her corner and Josh narrows his eyes.

"I'm a 'monster'?"

"Yes!" Elizabeth yells not looking at Josh

"Elizabeth, those were Cyrus's husks in the Terminal. They were waiting for us."

Elizabeth blinks to hearing the word 'Cyrus'.

"Cyrus?"

"Yes. And that's the same man, who put you in that Tower to rot!"

Elizabeth slowly looks up to hearing that. Josh slowly walks to Elizabeth.

"Do you really think, Cyrus was just going to look the other way when he found out you escaped?', Elizabeth shakes her head hearing what Josh is telling her, 'Do you really think, it was just going to be that easy?"

"What?" Elizabeth asks with a lost look on her face

"You have to understand the…the cost of everything for him to keep you in that Tower. I saw what they were doing to you beneath your home. I saw how horrifying it was that he just…watched you. All the time.', Elizabeth covers her mouth from hearing what Josh is telling her, 'You were nothing more than, than a toy to him. A toy that will never see the light of day. Cyrus was never going to let you walk away."

Elizabeth gasps.

"What does he want from me?"

"He wants nothing from you Elizabeth. He just wanted to keep you locked up in there, that's all. Elizabeth.', Elizabeth doesn't turn, Josh sees, 'Look at me Elizabeth', Elizabeth sniffs, Josh look serious and grabs Elizabeth, and spins her around, 'Just look at me!"

Elizabeth struggles to break free from Josh's grasp.

"Let go of me!"

"Just listen! Listen!', Elizabeth eases up and looks up at Josh, 'You don't know me. I know that. But believe me, those people you saw, are no longer human. They are Cyrus's husks. Being controlled by Cyrus himself. If you get infected by his virus, you become his puppet. And those husks were his."

Elizabeth gulps and Josh lets go of her.

"Who is…Cyrus?"

Josh shrugs.

"Cyrus is…the bad guy. You're not the only one whose life was ruined by him Elizabeth."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes at Josh.

"Whose life did he also ruin?"

Josh gulps.

"Mine. I'm wanted by the police because of him. He's blamed me for certain disasters that have happened here in my world."

"Can't you just tell them it wasn't you?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No. It doesn't work like that here Elizabeth. Cyrus has basically taken away my best chance at stopping him by using the forces that exist here. And those soldiers in the Terminal, they were looking for me. And Cyrus turned them to take me out."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"I don't believe this…"

Josh touches his head where the husk smashed the bottle against his head. A little cut is there and he ignores the bruising on his face.

"Elizabeth, listen to me', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, "I promise. I, PROMISE you, I won't let Cyrus or anyone take you away."

"What makes you think you can keep something like that?"

"Because once you get to know me, I always keep my promises', feels head injury, 'Mmmm." Josh moans rubbing his head

Elizabeth looks and sees the gash on the side of Josh's head. Josh wipes it with the end of his coat and Elizabeth nods.

"Here, let me see your head…"

Josh waves Elizabeth off.

"It's fine. It's not that…', shakes head, 'bad."

Elizabeth gets firm and walks in front of him. Josh blinks seeing Elizabeth in front of him.

"Let me see."

Josh sighs slowly and closes his eyes. Elizabeth puts her hands on Josh's face and he quickly feels a cold touch.

"Oh!"

Elizabeth shakes each of her hands.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. My hands are colder than you think."

Josh tilts his head and Elizabeth examines Josh's head wound.

"It doesn't look deep', Josh sniffs, 'But it looks like you might have a concussion."

Josh snickers and Elizabeth wipes up some of the blood with her shirt.

"And how would you know that?"

"From one of the many books I've read. I read a book on human anatomy."

Josh nods.

"Well that's good. I might need a personal doctor in case Cyrus plans on ambushing me again."

Elizabeth gulps to hearing that.

"That 'ambush'. There's going to be more…isn't here?" Elizabeth asks with a worried look on her face

Josh sighs slowly.

"I don't know. I won't let anything happen to you Elizabeth."

Elizabeth just stares at Josh for a few seconds and the elevator arrives at the ground floor behind the Bus Terminal. As the two wait for the elevator to open, the doors take a second and Josh sighs slowly.

"Really?"

Elizabeth watches as Josh points his staff at the door and his electricity inside him shoots out and pours around into the doors. The doors get the shock and they open up. Josh steps to the side and waves his hand to Elizabeth.

"After you."

Elizabeth nods and heads out first. Josh follows and gets in front of Elizabeth.

"So, I take it that you're some kind of super hero?"

Josh narrows his eyes and looks back.

"You're honestly the first person to ever say that to me."

"Wouldn't anyone else?"

Josh sighs.

"No. Not in this world they wouldn't."

Josh and Elizabeth walk across the alleyway. As they make it to the street, some police cars drive by and Josh turns the other way pretending to rub his head. The cars go by and Josh looks around. As Josh looks, he spots a Mall across the way.

"There's a Mall across the way. Let's go there so I can change."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Change?"

"I'll explain on the way. Let's go!"

Josh runs across the street and Elizabeth follows.

"So, I take it that going to Paris is on hold at the moment?"

Josh rubs his face hearing Elizabeth talking about the 'Paris' thing again.

"Uhh, yeah, for the time being."

"Okay, I understand Mr. Litwak."

"Please, just call me Josh. No need to be so formal."

"Yes, um, J-Josh."

Josh nods.

"There we go."

Josh opens the door and the two enter the Mall.

Mall…

Elizabeth looks around at all the people inside the place. She's like a little kid looking at every little thing. Seeing things she's never saw before. Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth looking at all the goodies and people all around. He shakes his head and waits for Elizabeth to come back. Elizabeth looks and sees Josh waiting for her; she straightens her gown and walks up to him.

"Ready."

Josh nods with a smirk on his face and the two move on.

"So, what do you do for a living Josh?"

"Huh?"

"Besides rescuing girls out of Towers in which they've been stuck there their entire life?"

Josh shakes his head with a funny look on his face.

"I'm uhh…game designer. Attending college and such. And right now, was attending college."

"Game design?"

"Yeah, grew up playing a lot of video games. My family owns an Arcade. Litwak's Arcade it's called."

"Oh. That sounds…nice."

Josh shrugs.

"It's what I want to do. After discovering what it truly is, I had to take part it in."

"What's what truly is?"

Josh stops and looks back at Elizabeth. Elizabeth stares at Josh waiting for an answer. Josh looks back up ahead.

"The truth about video games is that their more alive than you may know."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes and Josh looks around. She thinks for a moment and slowly smiles.

"So Josh…is there a girl in your life?"

Josh narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

"And why do you want to know that?"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"Oh no reason, just making small talk."

Josh shakes his head.

"Yeah…'small talk'." Josh whispers

"So, is there?"

Josh sighs.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want one."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a relationship kind of guy."

"Is that really an answer?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"How many questions have you asked me so far?"

Elizabeth thinks for a moment.

"Umm, so far a few."

"Right. I lost count."

"Are you afraid of being with someone?"

Josh looks back.

"Why do you want to know about my personal life Elizabeth?"

"I'm sorry Josh. I just…I just haven't spoken to anyone in my entire life. I just can't help but ask questions."

Josh nods.

"I see. I guess I'll be hearing more in the future I suppose."

"Maybe."

Josh looks up and sees a clothing store. He looks inside and looks down at the clothes he's wearing now.

"This is perfect."

Elizabeth looks at the store as well.

"What?"

"Come on. Remember when I said 'change'?"

"Yes?"

"Well, I'm changing my outfit."

"Why?"

Josh looks back.

"Because the military and police know my outfit and that thing knows what I'm wearing too. I have to change outfits to lead them away. Come on." Josh says entering the store

Josh and Elizabeth walk into the store. He looks around.

"What's wrong with what you're wearing?" Elizabeth asks

Josh looks back and shrugs.

"Nothing. But if I wanted to be spotted by that bird thing it knows what I'm wearing. Wearing something else might…throw it off."

Elizabeth looks around at all the clothes. Josh goes on and picks out his new outfit. Little while later…

Fitting Rooms…

Josh changes into new clothes and Elizabeth waits. He slides on his shirt while Elizabeth still waits. Elizabeth talks to Josh from the Fitting Room next to him.

"So, Josh? How did you find out about the Tower?"

Josh kicks off his shoes and sits down.

"Well, besides seeing a very tall building that wasn't there before and magically appeared out of nowhere', Elizabeth listens in looking up, Josh sort of laughs, 'This is going to sound…ridiculous but…I had a dream about that Tower.', Elizabeth just blinks, 'I had a dream about it…it was so…real. I've been having those a lot lately."

"You had a dream about the Tower?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah. It ended with that thing nearly trying to kill me."

"Huh…That's…strange…"

Josh narrows his eyes and stands up.

"Why's that?"

"You're going to think this is ridiculous but…I had a dream when I was younger. I still don't know if it was real or not but…I had a dream where someone told me that someone would get me out of that Tower."

Josh slides his new shoes on and kicks the floor.

"Really?"

"I was very young, I don't know if it was real or not."

"Dreams can do that do you."

"But it felt so real."

"I know the feeling."

Josh walks outside his Room and looks at Elizabeth.

"Well, what do you think?', Elizabeth looks at Josh's new clothes, 'Do I look different?"

"I don't know. Are you after a certain look?"

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Elizabeth, I don't care if they don't match and such, just tell me do I look different."

"Yes. You do look different."

"Good. Let's go then."

Elizabeth follows Josh out as he pays for the new threads and they walk back into the Mall. Josh guides Elizabeth back to the other end of the Mall. They board and elevator and go down to the Parking Garage. As the two ride the elevator down. Josh and Elizabeth wait patiently. Josh begins to rub his nose as he begins to feel a chill for some reason. He rubs his arms and Elizabeth notices. Josh shakes his head and finally, he sneezes.

"ACHOOO!"

Elizabeth looks.

"Bless you."

"Thank you."

Suddenly the elevator dies. The two look and Josh shakes his head.

"Oh just wonderful. What we need right now."

"Can you fix it?"

"If it runs on electricity, I can fix anything."

Josh walks to the box of the elevator and pries it open with his staff. He knocks it off and looks at all the wiring.

"Okay, this should do…"

Josh sticks his hand in the wiring and shoots out some electricity.

"Come on. Come on…feel the juice. Start back up."

Elizabeth turns around and suddenly gasps.

"Oh no!"

"What? What is it?!" Josh asks looking around

"It's a spider."

Josh shuts his eyes and almost hits himself.

"A spider? Are you serious right now?"

"Yes! I hate those things."

"Just kill it!"

"No! It might bite me."

"Elizabeth…"

Elizabeth thinks for a second and nods.

"Wait, I got a better idea. Maybe I should show you something."

"Show me what?"

"This."

Josh looks at Elizabeth spreading her arms out like…she's trying to open something.

"What, What are you doing?"

"Just watch!"

"Elizabeth?"

"I'm just opening a rip!"

"A what?!"

Elizabeth suddenly opens a 'rip' and her side of the elevator, the scenery completely changes. A bright light shoots out and Josh falls backwards seeing what Elizabeth just did.

"Whoa!', Josh looks at half of the elevator's scenery has changed to some sort of a balcony view overlooking a lake, 'What…the hell is this?" Josh asks slowly stepping forward

"It's a rip. I used to open them all the time in the Tower."

"A rip? What in God's name is a 'rip'?" Josh asks shaking his head

"It's a uh, uh…a doorway. A doorway to another world."

Josh shakes his head to believing what he's hearing.

"A 'doorway to another world'. Are frickin serious?" Josh says rubbing his head

"It's not doorways like this Josh; sometimes it's like objects right in front of you. For example, you may be drinking water, a rip there might be a can of soda. A small change and what not."

"Uh-huh…"

Josh examines the 'doorway' before him looking out into the balcony of the rip. He narrows his eyes looking at it closer.

"Wait a minute…this…looks familiar."

Elizabeth looks seeing Josh slowing touching the rip.

"What are you doing?"

"I've…seen this before somewhere."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes blinking.

"You have?"

"Wait…"

Then Josh remembers. That night in the Arcade…when Josh and his friends cornered Cyrus. When Josh threw Cyrus as the game screen, expecting him to fall back, he instead went right through it. That game screen wasn't a screen; it was to be a rip. A rip to Josh's world!

"Oh my God', Josh starts to smile, 'That's how he did it…', Josh laughs, 'Clever Cyrus. Pretty clever."

Elizabeth continues to look at Josh with a lost look.

"What are you talking about?"

Josh continues to smile and looks at Elizabeth.

"That's how he did it. That's how it all started."

"Josh what are you talking about."

Josh rubs his chin.

"He used your rip abilities and my knowledge on how to escape the game world into the real world', Josh shakes his, 'Cyrus you clever son of a bitch…"

"Cyrus…used my abilities to escape?"

Josh nods.

"He couldn't make a doorway without the person who makes them for a living right?"

Elizabeth looks down and Josh takes notice. Josh sees Elizabeth getting somewhat upset.

"Is this all my fault?"

"Elizabeth…"

"Did…Cyrus use my abilities to escape and come to your world?', looks at Josh, 'Is this my fault Josh?"

Josh gulps and shakes his head.

"No. You were just a tool he used. None of this is your fault Elizabeth.', Elizabeth sniffs and wipes her eyes, 'Besides, he couldn't get out unless he knew where to go, right?" Josh asks tapping his head

Josh smiles to lighten the mood. Elizabeth nods wiping her eye and kind of smiling. She looks ahead at the rip and walks through. Josh crosses his arms and Elizabeth puts her hands out on the balcony and feels the wind. Elizabeth looks back.

"See how easy it is?"

Josh whistles.

"I see that. You wouldn't happen to have my Apartment in there would ya?"

Elizabeth chuckles.

"N-No. I don't think so. I can't control where the rips go. Just, whatever pops up in them."

"Really?"

"Yes.', Elizabeth turns around and sees something flying in the rip, 'Huh? What's that?"

"What?"

Josh looks closer in the rip. He notices something too flying around. Elizabeth recognizes it and jumps back.

"Oh no it's him!"

Josh jumps back out of the rip.

"Close it! Close it! Do whatever you have to do to close it!"

"I'M TRYING!"

The flying creature flies right at the rip towards Elizabeth.

"CLOSE IT!" Josh screams

Elizabeth throws her hands together and the rip closes as the creature comes close and disappears. Josh and Elizabeth breathe slowly as the elevator continues to go down.

"Okay…I'm just going to pretend like I understood what I just saw back there. But no offense Elizabeth, your rips seem to be a quick way to get us killed. So in the meantime, no rips please?"

"Okay, I understand. But I believe I can help."

"There's nothing I can't handle Elizabeth. I have seriously fought a lot worse."

"Like what?"

Josh shrugs.

"Myself one time.', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'The dark side of me. The only way I could stop him…was to kill myself."

Elizabeth gasps softly. Josh looks down and back up.

"My biggest darkest secret Elizabeth. Thought you know how far I'm willing to go."

Elizabeth thinks for a moment and looks at her hands.

"I can…I can shoot out ice.', Josh turns his head and sees Elizabeth looking at her hands, 'I don't know how but, I just can."

Josh nods and Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"I know Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks shocked.

"You-You know? How?"

Josh blows his breath in front of his face and sees it.

"Because it's below forty degrees in here and I'm freezing. And it's not coming from off the elevator."

Elizabeth covers her mouth from her laughing. Josh rubs his arms and hits the door.

"Come on!"

The elevator dings and the two get off.

Outside, Parking Lot…

The two walk into the parking lot of the Mall. As they walk out, they notice a small flee market going on. Josh shakes his head seeing all the junk around, Elizabeth on the other hand is amazed by all the stuff.

"Look at all this stuff Josh."

Josh sighs.

"Yeah, if you're a hoarder."

"I don't believe these people are."

"Oh they are, that's why their selling junk to people out here."

"This stuff is amazing though."

Josh rubs his face and continues on with Elizabeth in tow. Elizabeth tries to keep up but she can't but help look at all the stuff. As Josh continues on, he looks to the side and sees a bunch of grown men harassing around with an old woman. He ignores it and continues on. Elizabeth notices and sees the group of men harassing the old lady. She narrows her eyes and walks over.

"Please, stop. I can't see." Old Woman says

"This stuff is garbage lady! No one is going to buy it. I'm doing you a favor."

"Please stop. This stuff is priceless."

"Yeah it's priceless! It's shit!"

The guys continue to harass the old lady, destroying nearly everything on her booth. Elizabeth shakes her head and goes to the scene.

"Hey! Stop it!"

Josh stops and turns around. He sees Elizabeth sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. Josh shakes his head.

"Elizabeth…" Josh says pulling out his staff and leaning on it

The guys see Elizabeth and just stare at her.

"Girl, mind your own business. Just teaching this old lady the right way to sell merchandise."

"By destroying it?"

"It may look like that, but were doing her a big favor."

"Leave her alone. Now." Elizabeth says with a firm look

The three guys see Elizabeth standing up for this poor old woman. They circle around her and Josh notices.

"Oh boy…"

Back with Elizabeth…

"Guys, just leave now." Elizabeth orders

"Or what?" Guy asks

"What are you going to do about it?" Guy asks eyeing Elizabeth

Elizabeth looks at each of the guys around her. Josh kicks up his staff and walks to the scene.

"Gentlemen, just please leave." Elizabeth orders

"Nah, this is more fun."

The guy goes to grab Elizabeth, but stops as Josh comes to the scene, throws the top part of the staff on the guys foot making him fall face first into the ground.

"Oh!" Elizabeth says covering her mouth

Elizabeth looks up and sees what Josh just did. The two other guys see what Josh just did. Josh on the other hand, just looks at his staff and stares at it.

"You know I surprise myself sometimes', Josh looks at the two thugs, 'Ready for another shocking surprise?"

The two thugs look at each and nod. Josh just stands there casually as they walk to him and they grab his arms. Josh just sighs and sees what these two morons just did.

"No one ever listens."

"You were saying?" Thug asks

Josh holds his staff firmly and sets each end against the thugs. They look and suddenly, a light jolt happens and all is quiet. Elizabeth blinks wondering what just happened and suddenly, the two guys fall down. Josh twirls around his staff and blows off the smoke that the guys body parts where touching.

"Shocking isn't it?" Josh asks with a smile

Elizabeth shakes her head with a small smile and walks to the old lady.

"Are you okay?"

The Old Lady feels around and Elizabeth helps.

"What, What just happened?"

"It's okay, your safe now."

Josh steps over the thug and approaches the two.

"Ma'am are you okay?"

"I am now, thank you both very much."

Josh and Elizabeth look at each other.

"Can we now go?" Josh asks

Elizabeth nods and the two leave. The Old Lady looks surprised and waves her hands.

"Wait, stop. Stop for one more moment please." Old Lady asks

Josh and Elizabeth stop and turn around. The Old Lady carefully sits down and grabs her cane.

"Would one of you mind grabbing two jewelry boxes off the table near me please?"

Josh and Elizabeth look at each other and Elizabeth does what the Old Lady says. Elizabeth looks around the table for the boxes.

"One is black and the other is white."

Elizabeth spots them and grabs them.

"Open them up dear…"

Elizabeth opens the jewelry boxes and looks surprised.

"Oh my…these are beautiful."

The Old Lady smiles looking around.

"They are aren't they?"

Josh sighs and crosses his arms.

"You may have one of them." Old Lady explains

Elizabeth looks down at the Old Lady.

"Are you sure? I can't possible take one of them."

"Consider it as a thank you."

Elizabeth smiles and looks at the diamond necklaces in each box. Josh taps his foot waiting for Elizabeth to choose.

"Elizabeth, come on. Pick one and let's go."

Elizabeth turns around and shows each one to Josh.

"I can't decide. Which one would you pick?"

"I don't know. They both look nice."

"I can't decide Josh. You pick it."

Josh sighs and looks at both stones. One diamond is the color blue. The other is silver. They look identical, except for the color duration. Josh sighs and looks at each. He looks at the blue one and points at it.

"The blue one."

"The blue one?', looks at it and nods, 'Okay.', Elizabeth turns at the Old Lady, 'I'll take the blue one Ma'am."

"I can imagine it looks great on you dear."

Elizabeth sets the boxes down and puts on the blue necklace. She turns around and shows it off to Josh.

"What do you think?"

Josh nods as Elizabeth shows it off.

"It's nice Elizabeth. Please let's go."

"All right."

As the two walk away, the Old Lady stops them again.

"Hold on now', the two stop and look back, 'The necklace was for the lady, I have something special for you too young man."

"No thank you Ma'am. I'm good in the jewelry department."

"I'm not going to give you jewelry, come here. Let me read your palm."

Josh narrows his eyes and walks to the Old Lady. Elizabeth just watches as Josh approaches her.

"You want to do what now?"

The Old Lady gives out her hand.

"Give me your hand young man, and let me tell you you're fortune."

Josh sighs and gives it out like he cares.

"Right. My 'fortune'."

"Josh, just let her do it."

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and sees her just watching. He shakes his head and looks back at the Old Lady. The Old Lady feels Josh's hand and he gulps just watching her. The Old Lady looks confused.

"Oh my…such heavy shoulders you have', Josh slowly turns hearing what the Old Lady is saying, 'But the strength you have gathered prevents you from falling down.', Josh gulps, 'Take care of her', Josh narrows his eyes, 'Watch her. Protect her."

Josh looks a little bit worried.

"Why's that?"

The Old Lady lets go of Josh's hand. She looks up and sees that the Old Lady, is blind.

"Because a dark shadow follows her."

Josh blinks and suddenly a loud SCREECH yells off. Josh and Elizabeth turn and look up at the sky, the creature flies around in the clouds searching for Elizabeth. The crowd sees and run away. Josh grabs Elizabeth and runs to the garage.

"Get to the garage!"

"But we were just there!"

"We can't outrun that thing! Just trust me!"

Josh and Elizabeth run back into the parking garage as the creature flies low over the Flee Market, crashing and causing chaos around.

Inside the Parking Garage…

Josh looks around for a fast vehicle. But all he's finding are trucks, vans and pieces of crap.

"Come on, come on! Where are all the good vehicles?!"

Elizabeth sees Josh looking hard for something.

"What are you looking for?"

Josh looks back at Elizabeth.

"Something that will speed away from that thing!"

Josh continues to look and Elizabeth narrows her eyes hearing Josh talk about the creature that way. Josh continues to search and down the garage, Josh spots a really fast car, and smiles.

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

Elizabeth follows Josh down the ramp and walks up to the car Josh chooses to 'borrow'. The car is a 2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Convertible, all black. The two stop in front of it and Elizabeth looks at Josh. Josh just shakes his head.

"I prefer Challenger, but can't be too picky."

Josh walks along the driver's seat and gets in. Elizabeth does the same and gets in too.

"Is it okay to take this?"

Josh laughs.

"I'm already a wanted man; putting grand theft auto on my list won't change anything."

Josh puts his staff to the ignition and a bolt of electricity shoots out of it. The car starts right up and Josh smiles.

"Buckle up." Josh orders throwing the car into drive

Elizabeth puts on her seatbelt and Josh drives out of the garage.

Outside…

The creature lands on the ground, with its eyes red searching for Elizabeth. Josh pulls right up to the entrance of the parking garage and stops. The two look at the creature looking for Elizabeth.

"That is one, ugly, looking…', Josh shrugs, 'something."

Elizabeth looks at Josh hard and he floors it.

"SURPRISE ASSHOLE!"

Josh honks the horn and revves the engine. The creature turns around seeing Josh drive right at him. It flies up and away from the scene. Josh makes it out on the street and drives away. The creature flaps its wings and chases after Josh and Elizabeth.

Streets…

Josh swerves down the street and honks the horn to get people out of his way.

"MOVE IT! Come on!"

Josh looks back in the rearview mirror and sees the bird flying right behind him.

"Dammit! It's right behind us! What the hell is that thing!?"

Elizabeth narrows her eyes hard.

"That 'thing' is supposed to keep me in the Tower."

Josh tilts his head.

"Well it failed horribly at its job."

"He failed! Not it!"

Josh blinks and looks over at Elizabeth.

"He? Are you serious?"

Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"Yes! He protected me! Tweety always protected me!"

Josh shakes his head.

"Wait! That thing has a name!?"

"Yes! His name is Tweety!"

Josh almost loses control. He swerves down another street.

"Tweety!? Seriously?!"

"Yes! Got a problem with that?"

"Yes! The Tweety I know is cute, small and adorable! Your 'Tweety' is ugly, huge and psychotic!"

"Don't talk about him like that!"

"Hold that thought!"

Josh swerves and drives down a narrow alleyway. Elizabeth looks back as Tweety tries to fly between the narrow alleyway and sees he can't. Tweety backs up and flies around. Josh exits the alleyway and turns right. He passes the street Tweety is flying low on and follows Josh. Cars honk and people scream seeing the enormous machine, Tweety flying low chasing after Josh and Elizabeth. Josh looks back and sees Tweety gaining. He looks back at the road ahead and sees a fire hydrant up ahead.

"Yes!"

Elizabeth looks at Josh wondering why he's getting excited. Josh drives on the sidewalk, blasting the horn to get the people out of the way.

"MOVE! Get out of the way!"

"Josh!" Elizabeth says holding on

"Hold on!"

Josh drives right over the fire hydrant and it sprays up water. He gets back on the street and looks back. Tweety flies right into the water getting sprayed by it as it flies over it. It falls over and hits the ground hard. Josh jumps up and down in his seat seeing his plan worked perfectly.

"Ha, ha, ha! It worked! Did you see that! I got it good! I bet it didn't see that coming!"

Elizabeth looks worried at Josh and he sees it. Josh shakes his head and looks back at the road. Tweety shakes off the water and flies up in the sky. Josh swerves down a busy street and sees a traffic jam. He gasps and slams on the brakes.

"Whoa!', sees traffic, 'GREAT!"

"Now what? Any more watery ideas?"

Josh turns his head and looks funny at Elizabeth. He looks up ahead and sees all the cars just parked waiting to move up ahead. But then Josh gets an idea. He reaches back in the backseat and pulls out his staff. Josh unbuckles his seatbelt and stands up in his seat. Elizabeth sees what Josh is doing.

"What are you doing?"

"Creating my own 'doorway'."

Elizabeth looks through the windshield and Josh fires a shockwave to all the cars. The cars flicker and jump out of control moving to the side creating an opening for them to drive through. Josh smiles and drops down to his seat.

"You have your doorways, I have mine."

"Hmm." Elizabeth says

Josh steps on it the second Tweety comes flying down at them. He drives through the opening as Tweety flies above. Elizabeth looks up watching Tweety coming down.

"He's coming!"

Josh holds the steering wheel firmly and some of his electricity shoots out and makes the Camaro go faster. The two jump back in their seats as Tweety misses his chance to grab the car. Josh keeps looking ahead and Elizabeth looks to the side. Elizabeth sees a tunnel to Josh's left, Elizabeth points.

"Josh! Tunnel! TUNNEL!"

Josh looks and sees the tunnel.

"Hold on!"

Josh turns the wheel and does a drift down the ramp. Elizabeth holds on as the two drive down the ramp towards the tunnel. Up in the sky, Tweety spins around and flies straight down at the car. Josh looks up at the sky and sees the strike Tweety is about to make. He looks back at the entrance of the tunnel and sees it close.

"ALMOST….THERE!"

Just as Tweety comes in and strikes, Josh and Elizabeth make it into the tunnel and Tweety headbutts the entrance hard crashing down. Elizabeth looks back worried; Josh looks at his rearview mirror and sees Tweety down.

"Ah! HA! HA! HA! Thank God for tunnels!"

Josh looks at Elizabeth looking back at Tweety. Elizabeth finally turns at Josh giving him a worried look. Josh shakes head and looks back down the road. The Tunnel splits into an intersection in the middle. Josh drives straight across the intersection and sees the end of the tunnel up ahead.

"Through there, it's a twenty minute drive home!"

Elizabeth looks up ahead and suddenly Tweety comes flying down in front of the tunnel's entrance and Josh slams on the brakes.

"Whoa!', the car skids and slides all over the place, Josh looks through his side window and sees Tweety just waiting for them to come, he looks serious and spins the wheel, 'Not going out through that way."

Josh spins the car around and drives back towards the intersection of the tunnel. He turns the wheel right and goes down another entrance of the tunnel, but only to be blocked off by Tweety again. Josh slams on the brakes and the two look.

"Man!', hits wheel, 'Will never get out of here with that thing stopping us at all entrances!"

Elizabeth turns around and looks down the tunnel. The last tunnel is a dead end, it's still under construction. Elizabeth looks at her hands and Josh.

"Turn around and drive straight."

Josh blinks and looks back at the end of the tunnel behind them. He sees it's a dead end.

"Elizabeth it's a dead end, we can't get out that way."

"Believe me, will can get out. Just go."

"Are you serious?"

"Go!"

Josh flinches and sighs hard.

"Fine."

Josh spins the car around and Tweety watches with its big red eyes just watching helplessly. Josh drives down the Tunnel that's under construction. Elizabeth slowly stands up putting her hands together.

"Uh, Elizabeth?"

"Just keep going."

Josh goes and sees he's getting really close to the dead end.

"Elizabeth!"

"Just keep going!"

The car is a lot more closer.

"ELIZABETH!"

Elizabeth opens a rip of the construction and for a split second, there's nothing around and now, there's a hole at the end of the tunnel. Josh continues to drive through the rip.

"There!" Elizabeth yells

Josh gets out of the tunnel and swerves. Elizabeth waves her hand as the rip goes away showing the tunnel under construction again. She sits down and Josh looks back at what just happened.

"You know what? On second thought, your rips might come in handy after all."

Elizabeth shrugs.

"I can try…but there's got to be rip for me to bring something through."

"What was that back there? One minute that tunnel was under construction and the next, it looked finished…"

"In another world it was finished, here, it wasn't', Josh slowly turns his head at Elizabeth, 'It was finished somewhere else, I just brought it through."

Josh slowly nods and changes gear.

"Let's just get to my Apartment."

Elizabeth looks out her window as Josh speeds away and getting onto the Highway…

End of Chapter 14

Preview of Chapter 15…

Josh gets closer and closer to home. He takes notice of Elizabeth getting used to seeing the world outside her Tower. Upon finally meeting his friends, Tweety finds Josh and nearly kills him. But Elizabeth steps in and prevents it from happening. Waking up hours later, Josh goes to look for Elizabeth, barely walking and very injured. But he doesn't care. He promised Elizabeth he would protect her. And he's going to keep that promise. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 15 – I Promise


	15. Chapter 15 - I Promise

(Sorry readers for the long wait, still playing _The Last of Us_. Almost done with it, so in the meantime, TWO chapters will be uploaded for the wait. But first, after some thinking, and to some reviews, I've taken it into consideration of making the main character of Josh, to finally be seen. And looking countlessly at random drawings, I think I've found the right one. Or so I think.

Check it out. Tell me what you think. And one other thing, for one reviewer, if I were to pick a real life character for this story to be made into a movie, Josh Hutcherson. He's a good actor and what not. Thank you. ENJOY)

Chapter 15 – I Promise

Highway…

Josh and Elizabeth continue to drive down the highway towards Josh's home. He sniffs and leans his arm against the door now driving with one hand. Elizabeth puts her arms on the door and looks out at all the things in the world passing her by. Josh looks over and sees Elizabeth actually being quiet and enjoying herself.

_When she's not asking a million annoying questions she actually looks kind of cute…_

Elizabeth blinks and looks back. She sees Josh just looking at her and she brushes some of her hair behind her ear.

"What?"

Josh blinks and realizes what he's doing. He looks back at the road ahead of him.

"Nothing. Nothing. Sorry."

Josh rolls his eyes hearing Elizabeth asking 'what'. Elizabeth blinks and looks down at the control panel of the car. She waves her hand in front of her face from nearly sweating.

"Phew."

She sees the cars temperature system and sees it's all the way hot blowing out really hot air. Elizabeth reaches for the switch and turns it off. She looks back out the window. Josh blinks and shivers a bit.

"Ooooh."

Josh looks down and sees the heater is off.

"Huh?"

Josh turns it back on and looks back up ahead. As Josh turned on the heater, he also hit the button to heat the seats. Elizabeth nearly jumps and feels the extreme heat off her seat.

"Oh!"

Josh looks over and narrows his eyes.

"You okay?"

"My seat, it's really hot."

Josh continues to look at Elizabeth and she looks down at the temperature and sees the heater back on.

"That's why my butts warm', reaches over and turns it off, Josh's eyes nearly pop out of his head, Elizabeth smiles, 'There."

"Hey!', Elizabeth looks back down and sees Josh turning back on the heater, 'Don't turn it off."

"It's hot!" Elizabeth says turning it off

Josh sees Elizabeth turning off the heater.

"It's freezing!"

The two play around with the buttons.

"I'm hot Josh, I feel like I'm melting."

"I feel like I'm slowly getting hypothermia. And it's in the middle of June."

"I can't help that my powers emit subzero degree temperatures."

"Yes you can. CONTROL it."

Elizabeth looks funny at Josh.

"Don't you think I have?"

"Let me see', Josh looks at the road and Elizabeth sees him clear to look away for a second, Josh lifts his hand up and sees it shaking, Elizabeth sees, 'No. I guess not. I'm still shaking.', turns heater back on, 'I'm actually missing Plague's heat exchange."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Plague?"

Josh blinks and realizes Elizabeth doesn't know anyone she's going to meet when they reach the Apartment.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot. I have a few friends on my side helping me stop Cyrus."

"Someone's actually helping you?"

Josh makes a face yet hearing another question.

"Yes Elizabeth, someone out there is actually helping me. I just had to bring them from a place they thought they'd never escape from."

"Where would that be?"

Josh bites his lip.

"Litwak's Arcade."

"Your families Arcade?"

Josh shuts his eyes and reopens them looking annoyed.

"Yes."

"Who's helping you?"

Josh looks out the window and back.

"Well, let's start off with the men; Ralph is the huge man you're going to see. You can't miss him."

"Huge? How big is he?"

Josh smiles funny.

"A double question! Big, seven foot one, 643 pounds.', Elizabeth's mouth drops, Josh shakes his head, 'then you'll look out for the short guy, Fix-It Felix Jr."

"That's really his name?"

"Yep. Same name as his game."

"Huh?"

Josh looks over and sees Elizabeth confused.

"His name is Fix-It Felix Jr., from the game _Fix-It Felix Jr._"

"He's from a video game?"

Josh shakes his head and looks back at the road.

"That's right. Then there's Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun. Everyone just calls her Calhoun besides Felix."

"Why?"

Josh gulps hearing another question.

"Because he's married to her."

Elizabeth looks really surprised. Josh sighs slowly and gets comfortable.

"And most importantly, Vanellope Von Schweetz from the video game _Sugar Rush._"

"Who's she?"

"The cutest most annoying little girl in the world you'll ever meet', Josh smiles and shakes his head, 'But you'll love her the second you lay eyes on her."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Do you?"

Josh blinks and looks back at Elizabeth and the road.

"Do I what?"

"Love her?"

Josh swerves like crazy hearing that question. Elizabeth holds on as Josh gets back in control.

"NO! No Elizabeth! She's my friend! Nothing more!"

"Okay, okay! I was just asking."

"You're awfully nosy that's for sure!"

"What do you expect? I've been trapped in a Tower all my life, I like to know certain things."

Josh shakes his head and rolls his eyes. He sighs slowly and tries to get comfortable again. Elizabeth looks back over at Josh and sees him driving casually.

"Are they your friends?"

Josh blinks for a moment and nods.

"Yes."

"They…so you say, came from video games inside your families Arcade', Josh nods, 'And you brought them here into your world."

"That's correct."

"That's awfully nice of them."

Josh shrugs.

"It is. I hopped that they would leave their games to come here and help me fight Cyrus."

"Why's that?"

Josh sighs.

"I've done a lot for them. In a way, I hate to say it like this, they owe me. But after what I've done to them. I'm surprised they remember me at all."

"Did you do something to them?"

Josh looks funny at Elizabeth and sees her wanting to know. He looks back at the road.

"Inside the game, game characters don't age. Ralph and Felix's game is over thirty years old and they look like they were just plugged in. Me, as a human on the other hand, I can get older. And grow up. When I finally managed to leave the Arcade, I got out more to learn how to make games. But it took longer than I expected and before I knew it, so much time had passed and I thought I just shouldn't go to the Arcade to spend time with them no more. So I erased myself from their existence and just continued my dream."

"What did you try to erase from yourself?"

Josh holds the steering wheel firmly.

"Kind of like you, being stuck in a cage sort to say has its advantages. Being stuck in my hard drive all the time felt better than being in the real world. I just wanted to…erase who I was to them. And be almost no body because who I am…it's so hard being who I am. And sometimes I just get tired of it. I rather be nobody then somebody."

"Being someone other than being nobody is better Josh. Depending on who you choose to be, if you do choose who you really are, is the best choice you can make. Even accepting the dark shadows behind your back."

Josh smirks.

"Oh really? How would you feel if you woke up one day deciding the life you live isn't the life you want to have at all? I can't change who I am, I know it. I've accepted it. It's just…hard sometimes to bear with it. Especially if you knew me."

Elizabeth looks to her right and looks at herself on the side rearview mirror.

"I asked myself those same types of questions in my Tower', Josh looks over at Elizabeth, 'I asked myself over and over again why I'm like this. How did I become like this and such. But I couldn't change it.', Elizabeth lifts her hand up and sees a cool breeze lifting off her hand getting hit by the warm air passing by, 'I can't change who I am. So I just accepted it."

Josh looks back at the road.

"I still don't understand how you do your, you know, rip things."

"I told you, I always thought of them as doorways. When I was younger, I just didn't pass through the ones that came up before me or found, sometimes I felt like I created them."

"You actually think you created them?"

"I felt like I could go anywhere I wanted. But then I got that feeling about going back."

"Back? Back to what? You were alone in that Tower." Josh says changing lanes

"I, I don't know', Elizabeth says shaking her head, 'I guess I wanted to come back to some sort of family. Like they were waiting for me when I returned."

Josh nods in the understanding of what Elizabeth is saying.

"But I still want to know, it's the strangest kind of power I've ever seen before. But what exactly is a 'rip' anyway. It's not exactly self-explanatory you know?"

"You know how I said I had plenty of time to read?"

Josh nods.

"That you did." Josh says looking back over his shoulder

"I tried to figure it out. I read a lot of science, biology, quantum physics, mathematics…', Elizabeth goes and Josh slowly turns his head hearing what Elizabeth has read all her life, 'Quantum mechanics, scientific studies…"

"Okay, okay, okay! I get the point! What's your theory?"

Elizabeth sort of smiles seeing she was going off. She brushes her hair back on her right side of her face.

"My theory is, or according to the books I read, that there are countless worlds of endless possibilities that make up different worlds around us."

Josh just looks completely lost.

"Elizabeth…', Elizabeth turns her head and sees Josh a little annoyed, 'Better understanding…please?"

Elizabeth smirks.

"It means, that people make up to 10,000 different decisions every day in their lives. One decision leads to another and another, but the idea behind it is what would have happened if the person made a different decision."

"And thus creating another reality? Or world?"

"Precisely."

Josh changes gears and changes lanes.

"So back at the tunnel. You opened a rip in which in a different reality the tunnel was actually finished." Josh says like he understands it

"Precisely."

"Huh…well, learn something new every day." Josh says looking over his shoulder

"You might want to know this as well Josh."

"What?"

"Sometimes whenever I got anxious, rips had a happening of appearing out of nowhere all around me."

Josh gulps.

"So you're saying, you don't exactly have it under control."

"Only when I'm nervous."

Josh looks over and sees Elizabeth looking away. He looks back at the road.

"Well you got nothing to be nervous about.', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'I may do some crazy things, but remember I'M the one who should be nervous here."

"Whatever you say Mr. Litwak."

"The names Josh."

"I'll take that notion under advisement…', Josh shakes his head and Elizabeth smiles, 'Josh."

Josh sort of smiles and drives on ahead.

"When there's a moment we can take a break when we're not being chased by Tweety. Let me know."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Why?"

"I would like to stretch my legs."

Josh sighs slowly and shakes his head.

"Speaking of…'Tweety'.' Elizabeth looks away, Josh turns his head at her, 'Tell me about…'him'."

Elizabeth blinks and continues to look away.

"When I was younger, I was so happy and excited to just see him."

Josh blinks.

"Happy and excited? Seriously?"

"He was all I had. He brought me anything I wanted. Food, books, pictures, music. Anything. Tweety was…my only friend', Josh looks over and sees Elizabeth wiping her eye, 'But then as I got older, I started to hate him. He wouldn't let me leave. He also made sure I'd stay there. Tweety wasn't my friend…he was my guard. Nothing more. He's probably just another one of Cyrus's pet or puppet right?"

Josh nods slowly.

"That's right Elizabeth."

"Just like me too right?"

Josh turns his head back at Elizabeth.

"What?"

"I'm just some…specimen of his right? Something he just kept locked up and watched for two decades right?"

Josh gets serious.

"No. You're not Elizabeth', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, Josh keeps looking forward, 'Listen to me Elizabeth. I can't say I understand what you've been through. But no one, game character or human deserves that."

"Josh…"

"You've been given the worst type of back story that I've ever heard. I would never create someone with a back story like that. Knowing they would have to live through it. All I'm saying Elizabeth, Cyrus is going to pay for what he's done. I promise."

Josh continues to look ahead and Elizabeth slowly looks the other way.

"But why lock me up?"

Josh shrugs.

"Maybe he's scared of you."

Elizabeth nods.

"Good."

Josh smiles at the corner of his mouth and Elizabeth realizes something.

"Josh."

"Yeah?"

"Back in the park, you were mumbling a boy's name', Josh gulps, 'Jas?"

Elizabeth looks back at Josh and sees him with a blank stare on his face.

"Elizabeth look…there are some things I'm willing to tell you but then there's stuff that are private, all right?"

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay. You didn't know."

"Who is 'Jas', if you don't mind me asking."

"My brother."

"You have a brother."

"I had a brother."

"'Had'?"

"He died."

Elizabeth gulps.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Josh looks serious for a second and just lets it go. He looks down at the radio and turns it on. Josh sighs and flips through the stations and finds a news station talking about him.

"Seriously?"

Elizabeth looks down at the radio and hears about Josh.

"_Josh Litwak, a.k.a. 'The Terrorist' is still at large, if you see him, call 9-1-1 as soon as possible."_

Josh turns off the radio.

"Isn't anything good on?"

"So…'The Terrorist' huh?', Josh rolls his eyes, 'How'd you get that nickname?"

"Guess who."

"Cyrus?"

"Bingo! We have a winner. But as I recall, Cyrus had a nickname for you as well', Elizabeth narrows her eyes and Josh looks at her with a smile, 'The Subject'?"

"If you won't call me that I won't call you 'Terrorist'."

"Fine by me."

"How did Cyrus do that to you?"

"Cyrus has his ways. That I know for sure. Hacked into the F.B.I. database and blamed me for all the stuff HE did."

"I guess he's really the 'monster' here."

"That's a perfect nickname for him. Don't you agree?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

Josh sort of smiles. Elizabeth looks back at Josh.

"You said you had a dream of my Tower? And that's why you came?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah, that's right. Why?"

"Do you suppose your dreams are telling you something?"

Josh shrugs.

"Don't know. Sometimes I have the same dream of Cyrus's world. And that's more of a nightmare."

"Cyrus's world…what's it like?"

Josh gulps.

"It's terrible. The sky is blood orange…his husks are everywhere. Everything is gone. Basically…end of the world."

"When I used to look outside my Tower, I was so high up I never knew what the world was like outside.', Josh looks over, 'I never imagined that's what the world was like below me."

Josh looks back up ahead.

"Trust me Elizabeth; it's not something you wanted to see."

"So, my game…I came from it didn't I?"

Josh slowly nods.

"As much as I can tell Elizabeth. Yes you did."

Elizabeth sighs slowly. Up ahead, Josh spots a closed gas station and pulls over.

"You want to stretch your legs. Now's your chance."

Elizabeth looks and sees the Gas Station Josh is pulling in to.

Gas Station…

Josh parks the car and gets out. Elizabeth gets out too and looks around the area. Josh narrows his eyes and sees that the Station is closed.

"Well, good news is no one's here."

Elizabeth turns around.

"And the bad news?"

"No one's here to."

Elizabeth throws her eyes up as Josh walks to the doors of the Station.

"Oh wait…', Josh realizes and reaches for his phone, as he pulls it out he notices the phone is cracked, 'Oh no!"

Elizabeth walks up behind Josh and sees him struck.

"What's wrong?"

"My phone is busted. Now I can't call the gang and tell them were only a few miles away."

"There's a phone probably inside right?"

Josh looks at Elizabeth and sees she's giving off a 'duh' look. He nods and points.

"You're a genius."

Elizabeth shrugs. Josh spins around and walks to the doors with Elizabeth in tow. As the two make it to the front door, Josh finds the doors locked and the only way in is by an electronic lock.

"Locked. And only one way in."

Elizabeth sees and ices up her hand.

"I'll take care of it."

Josh sees and stops her.

"Whoa, wait!', Elizabeth flinches as Josh grabs her hand, he smiles and lets go of Elizabeth, 'Not so fast frosty. It's not a key and lock, it's an electronic lock."

"Can you handle it?"

Josh smirks.

"Does ice melt?"

Elizabeth looks confused.

"Um, yes?"

Josh shakes his head and puts his hand over the lock. A few small bolts shoot out and fry the lock making the doors unlock. Josh smiles and opens the door.

"That never gets old."

The two enter the Station and see it completely empty.

"Hello? Anyone here?', a moment of silence passes, Josh shrugs, 'I guess not."

"Josh, I'll be over there." Elizabeth says pointing

Josh nods and Elizabeth does her thing. He walks to the contour and swings around the phone.

"Okay, this should be interesting…"

Josh pulls up the old looking telephone and finds the wire connecting to the main phone is cut.

"Really?"

Josh makes a funny look at the cord and holds the other end touching the main box. He makes an electric cord and hears a dial tone.

"Why call for service when you can make your own?"

Josh dials his Apartment's number and hears it ring. Back at the Apartment, Calhoun answers the phone and everyone sees.

"Josh's home?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Calhoun?"

Calhoun looks shocked.

"Josh?!"

The three stop what they're doing and walk to Calhoun shocked to hear it's Josh on the phone.

"What happened? It's been hours since we last heard from you."

Josh nods.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. My phone cracked and this is the first chance I've gotten to call you guys."

"Anything else?"

Josh looks confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Calhoun looks at the TV and sees the news reports of Tweety destroying everything insight trying to look for Elizabeth.

"Well I don't know if you know this, but some kind of giant, winged like creature is following you."

Josh nods.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. That would be Tweety by the way."

Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"Tweety?"

"Yeah, that's its name according to Elizabeth."

"Who's Elizabeth?"

"The girl in the Tower."

"You got her?"

Josh looks across the Station and sees Elizabeth just looking around.

"Yeah. I got her. Listen, I'm just a few miles away from the Factory. Elizabeth and I will be there in ten minutes or so."

"You think you can make it here in one piece?"

Josh sort of laughs.

"Calhoun, last time I checked there's a huge mechanical bird like creature after me, and it's the ONE destroying everything in sight. So you try telling it to keep everything in one piece, okay?"

Calhoun looks annoyed and Vanellope jumps up to get Calhoun's attention.

"Let me talk! Let me talk!"

Calhoun hands her the phone.

"Here, here. Take it!"

Vanellope takes the phone and talks to Josh.

"Josh?"

Josh smiles.

"Vanellope. It's nice to hear your voice."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. What about you?

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm stuck here with everyone with nothing to do."

Josh smiles.

"Good. That means you're safe."

"Are you almost home?"

Josh nods.

"Yes Vanellope."

"Good. From what I'm seeing, it doesn't look good out there."

"It isn't. But don't worry. I'll be home before you know it.', Vanellope nods with a smile on her face, Josh smirks, 'Hey Vanellope guess what?"

"What?"

"I got a surprise for you when I get back."

"Really? What?"

"Oh, nothing. Just something that goes a lot faster than that pick up.', suddenly, click, Josh blinks, 'Vanellope?"

Vanellope blinks.

"Josh? Josh!"

"Vanellope?"

Elizabeth walks back to Josh and he stares at the phone. He looks at what's in front of him wondering what could have cut the wire.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asks

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know."

Back at the Apartment, everyone looks at Vanellope.

"What happened?" Ralph asks

"I don't know. It…It just went dead."

"Let me see." Calhoun says

Vanellope hands Calhoun the phone back and she puts it to her ear.

"What is it Tamora?" Felix asks looking up

"The line. It's gone."

"How's the line gone?" Vanellope asks

"Someone must have cut it." Calhoun answers

"But who?" Felix asks

"I don't know."

Back at the Gas Station. Josh puts the phone down and hops back over the contour.

"Let's go."

Elizabeth nods.

"Okay."

As the two walk to the door, a loud BANG is heard and the two stop. Josh looks confused as Elizabeth looks shocked.

"What the hell was that?"

Elizabeth slowly grabs Josh's shoulder and spins him around. Josh looks at Elizabeth and sees the shocked expression on her face.

"What?"

Elizabeth puts a finger to her lip.

"Shhh."

Josh narrows his eyes and suddenly flapping is heard. Josh and Elizabeth look up and Josh turns his head outside the Stations windows. Another BANG is heard indicating Tweety has landed. Josh pulls out his staff but instead Elizabeth grabs him and pulls him behind one of the aisles in the store.

"Elizabeth!"

"Shhh! Get down and stay quiet."

The two hide behind a rack in one of the aisles. It's all silent and suddenly BANG, the Gas Station shakes and all the contents hanging on the shelves fall over. Josh moves a little bit away from Elizabeth and she sees. Elizabeth tries to stop him but Josh softly pushes her away showing he's just going to take a look. Josh carefully takes a peek around the corner of the aisle and sees Tweety looking for him and Elizabeth.

Tweety sees the car the two were in but not them at all. He turns to the Gas Station and Josh hides his head. Green light shows out through the whole store and the two see it. Then it changes into red showing that Tweety is looking hard for the two. Josh moves closer to Elizabeth and sees her shaking. He crawls faster to her and holds her to calm down.

"Shhh. Shhh." Josh says quietly

Elizabeth gulps really hard and the two stay absolutely quiet. Tweety scans the Station and sees nothing. Josh looks like Tweety is just going to fly away knowing it can't see them. And then suddenly, Tweety screeches so loud it shatters all the windows and glass products in the store. Josh and Elizabeth cover their ears as the screeching continues and finally stops. Josh slowly peeks his head up and sees Tweety still there looking for them. But as Tweety searches, Josh spots something shiny on its neck. It shines in the sun and Josh sees it as a small necklace of some sort. Josh sticks his head back down and Tweety changes its eye color to green and flies away. He hears this and sticks his head back up seeing Tweety has flown away and completely gone.

"I think it's gone', slowly stands up, 'Come on."

Josh slowly helps Elizabeth up and Josh sighs in relief. Elizabeth looks worried and quietly sneaks around Josh without him knowing. Josh puts his head down.

"I have to give 'him' credit. He sure doesn't know when to quit. Kind of reminds me of myself. Elizabeth?', looks where Elizabeth is supposed to be and sees her gone, 'Elizabeth?!"

"Over here." Elizabeth says quietly

Josh looks at the entrance of the Station and sees Elizabeth standing in front of the doors. He narrows his eyes as he walks to Elizabeth and sees her head sort of down.

"Elizabeth."

"Promise me something Josh."

"That bird will eventually stop chasing you Elizabeth. I guarantee it. And if it doesn't', pulls out staff, 'It will have a shocking end."

Elizabeth lifts her head up, looking serious and turns around at Josh. Josh sees the look on her face.

"Don't say that. Don't make a promise like that in which you can't keep."

"Elizabeth…"

"Promise me Josh', Elizabeth says moving closer to Josh, she slowly grabs his hand and Josh just watches seeing what Elizabeth is doing to him, 'Promise me', Elizabeth takes Josh's hand and puts it around her neck like she's asking him to kill her if Tweety gets her, Josh gulps to seeing this, then Elizabeth takes Josh's staff and puts it behind her, 'You will not, let him take me back."

Josh gulps and gets out of Elizabeth's grasp. Elizabeth gasps and covers her mouth with one hand. Josh holds his staff firmly and looks serious.

"I won't let it come to that. That I promise you."

Elizabeth sniffs and turns around. The two leave the Station.

Outside the Station…

Josh walks slowly seeing Elizabeth, with her arms crossed walking to the car. He looks down at his hand and remembers seeing her putting his hand around her neck. Asking to kill her if Tweety gets ahold of her.

_She…would rather die than being taken away?_

"Elizabeth."

"Let's keep moving." Elizabeth says walking to the car

"No, what did that thing do to you Elizabeth? Why would you rather die than be taken back?"

Elizabeth looks down wiping her eyes.

"Because it's just like death Josh', Josh just blinks and gulps, 'No matter how it ends for me, I die either way. I don't want to go back. Not ever again."

"You really want that? Do you really want that Elizabeth?" Josh asks with a serious look on his face

Elizabeth turns around furious pointing at herself.

"I want a normal life but we both know that's not going to happen any time soon, right?!"

Josh and Elizabeth both breathe heavily. Elizabeth fixes her hair and looks away. Josh looks around and kicks up his staff putting it on his back.

"Do you get used to it?" Elizabeth asks

"Used to what?"

"Killing?', Josh gulps, 'I suppose right?"

Josh looks around as he's searching for an answer. Elizabeth waits and Josh takes a step forward.

"You get used to it 'I suppose'."

"I can see how angry you are at Cyrus for what he's done to you.', Josh looks at Elizabeth and she finally turns at Josh, 'Back at the Terminal, I saw how serious you were fighting his husks. You showed me what you have to do to survive. That even means killing what were once people right?"

Josh looks down and stares at his hands. Shocks of electricity circle around his hand as he forms a fist in each.

"The difference between me and Cyrus is that I don't get a pleasure off killing people."

Elizabeth just blinks to that statement.

"Josh."

Josh looks back up at Elizabeth.

"You're a smart girl Elizabeth. If you can't see the difference by putting someone out of their misery and just killing them, you're no better than Cyrus yourself. That's the difference between me and Cyrus Elizabeth."

Elizabeth keeps her arms crossed and looks down.

"Can we go now? PLEASE?"

Josh walks forward and passes Elizabeth as she watches with her eyes only and Josh opens the passenger door of the Camaro. Elizabeth looks and sees Josh opening the door and waiting for her to come. She takes a deep breath through her nose and walks forward. Josh waits patiently as Elizabeth climbs in and buckles her seatbelt. He closes the door and gets in the driver's seat. Elizabeth looks out as Josh starts the car by touching the ignition with his thumb. Josh sighs slowly and puts the car in drive.

"Next stop: home."

Josh swerves and gets back on the road. The two head to Josh's Apartment.

Block Away from Josh's Apartment…

Josh turns the corner seeing he's only a block away from the Apartment. He looks over and sees Elizabeth still looking away from him. Josh thinks about what Elizabeth has asked him, told him, said to him, pleaded with him.

_Elizabeth…such a strange girl. So fragile…but so strong. In a sense._

Josh looks back at the road ahead of him and slams on the brakes.

"SHI!"

Elizabeth holds on as the two bobble their heads and she looks at Josh.

"What?"

Josh breathes slowly and looks serious. Elizabeth notices Josh is looking at something in front of them and looks too. As Elizabeth looks, she sees a small army, twenty or so husks standing before them.

"Josh…?"

Josh opens the door and Elizabeth sees.

"Josh, wait!"

Elizabeth grabs Josh as he holds onto his staff. He looks down at her seeing her shake her head.

"You can't. Not all of them…"

Josh looks at all of them and back down at Elizabeth.

"I have to."

Josh gets out of Elizabeth's grasp and walks to the front of the car. He approaches the husks that are yards away from them. Some of them breathe slowly, the way their breathing sounds hard and looks useless for them after all. Up in Josh's Apartment. Felix sighs and looks at another piece of damaged goods.

"Fix this up alright."

Felix gets his hammer and bangs the piece of hardware, but nothing happens. He gets a little serious.

"I can do this."

Felix slowly taps the hardware and sees it repair itself a bit. He smiles happily seeing its working.

"There we go."

Felix begins to hum to himself. Outside, Josh holds his staff firmly as a shotgun. He stares at each husk before him. Through the eyes of the husks, Cyrus watches and slowly smiles.

"Kill."

The husks growl and run at Josh. Josh points his staff at the leading husk and blows him away with a powerful bolt. The husk goes flying and splitting up into a million pieces. The others come and Josh dispatches them one at a time. As Josh takes down four, two come up right behind him and grab his shoulders. He's gets subdued for a second and then suddenly Josh blows up a power shock wave from inside him and the husks fly backwards.

Inside Josh's Apartment, Felix examines something else that's broken and suddenly sees a lightning bolt shoot up into the sky.

"Huh?"

Felix looks closer out the window and down at the ground below. He sees Josh fighting numerous husks by himself.

"Hey! Guys!" Felix yells quickly running to everyone

Everyone sees Felix running into the center of the room.

"What is it Felix?" Calhoun asks

"It's Josh! He's outside fighting husks!"

Everyone looks shocked.

"He's outside? Right now?!" Calhoun yells running to the door

"We better go!" Ralph yells

The four board the elevator and go straight down. Back on the street, Josh throws his staff at a husk which implants itself into its head. Josh walks to it and pulls it out as the husk breaks into a million pieces. Elizabeth slowly gets out of the car seeing Josh take down each husk all by himself. Two husks remain, one in front of Josh and the other right behind. Josh looks back and forth between the two and twirls his staff around.

"Bring it Cyrus."

The husks yell and run at Josh. Josh just smirks as he steps aside as the two husks collide into each other. Elizabeth watches as Josh puts both his hands on the husks and inflicts amount of electricity in the two. Smoke shoots off of them as they fall down and splatter into a million pieces. Josh claps his hands together as Elizabeth closes the car door and slowly walks to Josh. He picks up his staff and puts it to his back.

"How the hell did Cyrus know I was coming here?"

"Josh!', Josh spins around and sees Elizabeth just, amazed, 'I have to admit, you certainly know your way around a brawl."

Josh nods and puts his staff to his back.

"If it wasn't for Hero, I wouldn't be able to do so."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Hero?"

Josh nods realizing she doesn't know what he's talking about.

"Hero was a character from the game; he cured me of Cyrus's virus and…gave me his powers to fight Cyrus's husks."

Elizabeth stands before Josh.

"What happened to Hero?"

Josh gulps and looks down.

"He…erased himself."

"Oh…" Elizabeth says looking worried

Josh shakes his head.

"Don't worry, everything's fine now."

Elizabeth nods and suddenly the gate to the Factory opens and everyone runs out. Vanellope looks down the street and sees Josh and Elizabeth.

"Josh!"

Josh turns around and sees Vanellope.

"Guys!" Josh says waving

The gang sees Josh and hurry to him. Elizabeth sort of hides and backs up.

"Who, Who are they?"

Josh looks back at Elizabeth.

"Don't worry Elizabeth, there my friends who are helping me."

"Your friends? The ones you told me about?"

"The exact. If everything works out, they'll be your friends soon enough to."

Elizabeth nods and Josh waves his hand.

"Come on."

Josh and Elizabeth walk ahead. Down the street the gang is still rushing to get to Josh. Josh keeps his eyes on the lookout and Elizabeth turns her head at Josh.

"I haven't said it yet but, thank you Josh."

Josh nods.

"I told you, I keep my promises."

Elizabeth nods with a small smile. Just at the two groups about to meet, a loud screech is heard. Everyone stops and the four look around wondering what that noise was. Josh and Elizabeth slowly look at each other while Elizabeth looks completely scared.

"Oh no…"

Josh slowly turns his head behind him and looks up at the sky. Elizabeth turns and Josh sees Tweety flying straight at him. The gang sees it and backs up.

"What is that?!" Ralph yells

"Josh!" Elizabeth yells

Josh pushes Elizabeth out of the way.

"Elizabeth get down!"

Just as Josh pushes Elizabeth away, Tweety lands hard on Josh and picks him up with its giant claw. Tweety lifts Josh up close to its face. Josh tries to break free out of Tweety's claw but it's no use.

"Let go of me you son of a bitch!"

"JOSH!" Elizabeth yells

"GET OUT OF HERE ELIZABETH!"

Tweety's head turns and looks directly at Josh with its eye color green. Josh sees.

"What the hell are you looking at?"

Josh pulls out his staff and gets a powerful bolt going. He swings his staff like a bat and hits Tweety's eye hard really hard cracking the glass. Josh breathes slowly wondering what he just did, did anything. Tweety slowly looks back at Josh and changes its eye color red. Josh gulps.

"I think I just pissed it off."

Tweety screeches loud and everyone covers their ears. Elizabeth looks up and sees Tweety about to throw Josh.

"No!"

"AH!" Josh screams

Tweety throws Josh towards the back half of the Factory and Josh goes flying through one of the windows into the Warehouse.

Factory Warehouse…

Josh crashes hard through the glass window and lands hard on the ground bumping into shipping crates and boxes. He's badly hurt and broken a few bones. Josh breathes heavily seeing what just happened to him.

"That...really hurt…"

Josh rolls over and starts crawling. As he moves his left shoulder up, a loud CRACK is heard and Josh grabs it rolling over on his back.

"AHHH! HA! HA! OOOOH! GOD!"

Suddenly the ceiling of the Warehouse starts to break apart. Josh opens his eyes and sees it being ripped to shreds.

"Oh come on!"

Josh starts to crawl away as quickly as he can. The ceiling starts to fall apart dropping light fixtures, beams and windows. The debris almost hit Josh and he looks back. Josh sees Tweety ripping a hole big enough for it to come through. He moves faster and Tweety finally gets inside the warehouse. Josh slides up against a wall and looks back at Tweety walking towards him. He holds his shoulder firmly seeing Tweety only a few feet away from him.

"Go to hell you mechanical freak."

Tweety, with its eyes still blood red raises its claw and shows off its sharp claws it has on its hand. Josh sees and closes his eyes knowing Tweety is going to use that to finish him. Tweety throws its hand back and strikes Josh, but Elizabeth runs in front of him.

"STOP! STOP IT!"

Tweety pauses as it sees Elizabeth standing before him. Josh slowly opens his eye and sees Elizabeth stopping Tweety from killing him. Elizabeth waves her hands stopping Tweety from killing Josh.

"Don't hurt him! Please don't hurt him', Tweety looks away and pushes Elizabeth to the side showing he doesn't want to hurt her, Elizabeth watches as Tweety does the same thing again to strike Josh, Josh closes his eye once again and Tweety strikes, just as Elizabeth screams at the top of her lungs, 'TAKE ME BACK!"

Tweety completely pauses. Josh opens his eyes and sees Tweety's sharp claws only inches away from him. Tweety backs up and looks down at Elizabeth. Elizabeth cries and wipes her eyes.

"I don't want to be here anymore. I shouldn't have left. And I'm sorry.', Tweety throws its head up like he's giving Elizabeth the cold shoulder, Elizabeth sees and grabs Tweety's giant hand, 'Take me away from here. Take me away. Please?"

Josh just watches shaking his head.

"Elizabeth…" Josh says shaking holding his shoulder

Elizabeth looks away from Josh as Tweety's eyes change color from red to green. Tweety picks up Elizabeth and keeps her in his hand. Josh tries to stand up and lends out his hand to Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth!"

As Tweety pulls away, Elizabeth looks back at Josh. Josh sees Elizabeth crying her eyes out seen she's being taken away by Tweety. Elizabeth throws out her hand to grab Josh's but as he extends his he falls on the ground.

"Elizabeth!"

Josh watches Tweety fly out through the hole he made and gets out of the Factory. He looks serious and pushes himself up.

"No. NO! NO!"

Josh quickly gets up and runs out of the Factory Warehouse.

Outside the Factory Warehouse…

As the four run up to the door in which Josh is in. Calhoun grabs the knob but suddenly the door swings open as Josh jumps out of it.

"Whoa!" Calhoun yells

Josh breathes heavily looking for Tweety in the sky.

"Where are you?! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"Josh!" Calhoun yells

Josh breathes heavily running out into the street. The four watch and see how badly Josh is injured. Josh makes it out on the street and just looks up at the dawn filled sky.

"Elizabeth! ELIZABETH!"

Josh falls to his knees feeling his body getting weaker…

"Elizabeth…Elizabeth…!"

The four hurry to Josh as he passes out on the street. Calhoun kneels down next to him and spins him around.

"Let's take him back inside. Ralph!"

"On it."

Ralph picks up Josh and places him on his shoulder. The four carry Josh back inside his Apartment and wait for him to heal.

End of Chapter 15…

Preview of Chapter 16…

With Josh almost biting the bullet with Tweety, nearing killing him. He's going to need to heal fast to find Elizabeth. But that's if he can find her now since the Tower is destroyed. As Josh quickly tries to get better, E.D.I. finds a location where Elizabeth might be but if Josh goes there, Tweety this time will finish the job killing Josh and not caring if Elizabeth gets in the way. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 16 – I'll Protect You


	16. Chapter 16 - I'll Protect You

(Sorry Readers I don't know what happened, it seems that Fanfiction doesn't accept 'linked' words on pages, when I copied and pasted it on Word, it was still active, now it's off. I tried that, it still didn't work. I tried uploading it again with the image and that didn't work. So check the stories cover. It's there now. How you Readers can see it)

Chapter 16 – I'll Protect You

Josh's Room…

8 years ago…

Josh lies motionless on his bed. He sniffs and suddenly hears a loud thunder strike. Josh opens his eyes and raises his body. He sees the rain and thunder outside striking hard. Josh shakes his head and puts his head back down. As Josh puts his head back down, a green light shoots into Josh's room.

"Huh?"

Josh lifts his body up and sees the powerful green light shining into his room. He covers his eyes to see but the light is so bright.

"What the?"

Then, the light changes to red. Josh narrows his eyes and suddenly a loud screech is heard and Josh covers his ears. The screech is so loud that it blows the glass window into a million pieces and Josh looks at what's causing it. Josh sees the giant mechanical bird trying to squeeze it's giant head through the window frame. He tries to back up away from it but it's no use. The mechanical bird squeezes through and Josh hides himself as it screeches reaching for Josh.

Present…

Josh gasps and jumps up all over the place. Felix jumps seeing Josh up as he falls back down breathing heavily.

"Guys! Everyone, he's up! Josh is up!" Felix yells

Everyone rushes to Josh and sees him just looking all over the place trying to gain his composure. Calhoun sits on the table and examines Josh.

"Josh? Josh!"

Josh pushes Calhoun's hands away as he catches his breath.

"Don't touch me, don't touch me!" Josh says rolling over

Calhoun backs up and everyone stays a little away from Josh. Josh catches his breath and moves himself up on the couch. He rubs his head.

"What, What happened?"

"You collapsed out on the street." Calhoun explains

Josh shakes his head and tries to remember.

"I…I collapsed?"

"That's right. I carried you back." Ralph states

Josh breathes slowly and finally remembers. Elizabeth was taken by Tweety. Josh jumps up.

"Elizabeth!"

Everyone moves back as Josh limps away. Vanellope quickly runs in front of Josh and he sees.

"Where are you going?"

Josh gets serious.

"That thing, took Elizabeth. I-I got to get her back. Ah!"

Josh falls to his knees holding his stomach. Vanellope tries to help but Josh gets back up.

"I…I got to get her back!"

Calhoun grabs Josh and stops him.

"You can't even walk."

"Leave me alone Calhoun!"

"Josh! Stop!" Calhoun orders

Josh pushes Calhoun off of him. Ralph quickly rushes to the elevator and slides in front of Josh just as gets on.

"Josh…" Ralph says holding out his hands

Josh breathes heavily looking hard at Ralph.

"Ralph. GET, OUT, OF MY WAY." Josh says almost drooling

"Josh. You need to relax."

Josh clenches his fist and shoots out a bolt from his hand, but Calhoun comes up behind him and pins him.

"Let me go!"

"Calm down!" Calhoun orders

"No! Elizabeth is still out there!"

"You're not fully healed, you have to rest! This isn't a game anymore!"

Josh knocks Calhoun off and she loses her balance against the couch. Ralph, Felix, Vanellope and Calhoun circle around the crazed Josh.

"Don't you think I know that!?', Josh breathes heavily looking at his friends, 'Who says I need rest!?"

"I did.', Josh looks back up at E.D.I., 'According to my scans, you have suffered major damages to several parts of your body."

"Because of that damn bird E.D.I.! Besides I'm fine, I have to find Elizabeth and get her back here', looks at Ralph, 'Get out of my way Ralph. Right now."

Ralph looks serious and diverts his eyes up at Calhoun. Calhoun shakes her head telling Ralph to not let him pass. Ralph agrees and Calhoun looks at the back of Josh's head.

"Why is it so important for you to risk your life for that girl?"

Josh blinks and slowly turns around. He stares at Calhoun and points at his eye.

"Because Calhoun, I promised her', taps eye, 'I looked into her eyes, and I PROMISED HER, I wouldn't let that thing take her!', Calhoun gulps, 'She gave herself up right before that damn bird could've killed me! And as she was taken away, she was crying knowing she had to do what she did to spare me! Now she's out there, somewhere with that monster! I have to find her."

Calhoun slowly puts her hands up.

"Okay Josh, okay. Go."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Really?"

Calhoun shrugs.

"I'm not going to stop you. If you promised this girl, you go right now and find her."

Josh nods and turns around.

"You bet I will."

Josh looks back and Ralph looks at Calhoun. She sees.

"Move Ralph. Let him go."

Ralph steps to the side and Josh limps his way towards the elevator. Calhoun crosses her arms.

"By the way Josh, do you even know where to start looking?"

Josh stops as he just gets on the elevator. He slowly looks down and gulps closing his eyes.

"She could be anywhere by now.', Josh eases up on his breathing, 'You'll pass out before you get a block."

Josh slowly breathes. He turns around and walks back into the Apartment. Josh holds his left shoulder firmly and walks further into the Apartment. Everyone watches him; Josh limps his way towards the couch and just falls back down. Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun look at one another as they wait to hear something from Josh. Josh just sits there breathing slowly through his nose.

"E.D.I….you have any idea where Elizabeth was taken?"

"No Josh. I have no idea."

Josh closes his eyes and lays back.

"All right. I…I don't know what to ask next…"

The four approach Josh from behind. Josh looks back and sees everyone just looking at him.

"I'm open to any ideas here guys."

The four look at each other and see the 'rational' Josh is back. They walk around the couch and sit down in the Living Room area.

"What is that thing in the first place Josh?" Calhoun asks

Josh sighs slowly.

"It's the thing that kept Elizabeth locked in that Tower. Cyrus's guard dog sort of say." Josh explains

"The Tower you escaped from is destroyed. Would it go back there?" Vanellope asks

Josh leans forward showing a sign of pain.

"If it's destroyed then not likely Vanellope."

Josh thinks for a moment.

"Then where would they go?" Felix asks

Josh looks up at E.D.I. and stands up.

"E.D.I. Check the police band in a forty mile circle."

"What am I looking for?"

"Abnormal temperature changes and strange sightings of an unknown flying object."

"Yes Josh."

E.D.I. does her scans over several different channels. Josh waits patiently and rubs his shoulder. Vanellope takes notice of Josh rubbing his shoulder. Josh looks serious and feels his shoulder getting somewhat better from the electricity in his body. He sighs and throws down his arms. Then suddenly, E.D.I. finds something.

"I have found something."

Everyone looks up at the screen.

"According to reports, a bridge fifteen miles from our location. It has been closed down for strange weather conditions." E.D.I. explains

"What kind of weather conditions?" Felix asks

Josh sort of smiles. He mouths the words.

"Snow."

Josh smiles.

"Snow? In this weather?', Ralph asks, 'Does it snow here Josh?"

Josh looks back at Ralph.

"It does Ralph, but not at this time of the year."

"Do you think that's where the girl is?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks at Calhoun.

"Her name is Elizabeth. And yes. I believe she's there. She's sending me a sign to find her. E.D.I., are the police on the bridge?"

"No. They have blocked it off. They won't move forward because, according to reports, a bird like creature comes down at them when they approach the bridge."

Josh nods.

"That's Tweety all right."

Vanellope narrows her eyes.

"'Tweety'?"

Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"That's its name. Elizabeth named it when she was young', Josh rolls his eyes, 'It's a long story."

Josh limps his way around the couch. Everyone watches and gets up.

"Josh, where are you going?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks back.

"I know where she is, I'm going to get her', Josh pauses and closes his eyes, 'I mean, 'we're' going to get her. Anyone want in?"

The four look at each other and back at Josh.

"I can't', gulps, 'I can't do this one alone guys."

Josh waits for an answer from his friends. Vanellope nods and jumps over the couch.

"I'm going."

Josh looks at Vanellope walking towards him. He nods at her and she stands next to him. Ralph nods.

"I'll go to."

Josh looks at Ralph as he walks towards him.

"Thanks Ralph."

Ralph stands behind Josh. Felix fixes his hat.

"Me too."

Josh nods at Felix as he walks towards him. Everyone looks at Calhoun and Josh waits for an answer.

"Calhoun?"

Calhoun sighs and pulls out her pistol. She cocks her pistol and holsters it.

"Really think I wouldn't come along?"

Josh sort of smiles.

"Thank you."

As Calhoun walks over, she picks up Josh's phone and hands it to him. He sees this.

"E.D.I. fixed this for you', Josh stares at it and takes it, 'She said she uploaded a small part of herself in it so now she can scan anything you want."

Josh nods to that acknowledgement.

"Good to know."

Everyone boards the elevator and they all head into the garage.

Garage…

Everyone gets off the elevator. As Josh jumps down from the loading dock, he spots the Camaro parked alongside the Pickup.

"You brought the Camaro in?" Josh asks walking to the vehicles

"Yep! It's really fast too!" Vanellope says

Josh shakes his head.

"A Chevrolet Camaro and Avalanche…same models stolen…small world…"

Everyone climbs in the Avalanche and Josh shuts the passenger door. Ralph gets in the back. Josh then suddenly realizes something.

"Wait…where's Plague?', Josh looks back and doesn't see an answer on anyone, Josh sighs, 'When we most need her she's not here. Of course."

"Team player, huh?" Calhoun asks

Josh makes a face.

"Everyone buckle up. I have a feeling it's going to get cold."

Josh turns on the lights of the pickup and drives out of the Factory and to the Bridge where Elizabeth and Tweety are at.

Sometime later…

Josh drives on a narrow road only a few miles left away from the bridge. He drives with one hand and his other on his forehead just thinking about the current events that have taken place. The news is on and Josh listens carefully about the 'tragedy' of what's happening on the Bridge. Suddenly the broadcast is interrupted by the weather.

"_Tonight's weather is going to be a loud one folks, we have rain clouds forming coming from the East. No rain will come but it looks like a short thunder storm will pass us by before we know it…"_

Josh nods to that thought.

"Well that will give me some sort of an advantage."

"So what are we facing?" Calhoun asks in the back seat

Josh shakes his head.

"Nothing like any Cy-Bug that you've ever faced before Calhoun. Believe me on this."

"Worse than the glitching one?" Calhoun asks

Josh sort of smiles.

"A lot worse. This thing is…HUGE. Bigger then Ralph."

"HEY! I can hear you, you know."

Josh looks up.

"Sorry Ralph. Anyway…it flies like a bat out of hell. The second Elizabeth and I escaped from the Tower it started to go on a rampage and destroyed the darn thing."

"Sounds pretty protective." Felix states

"Maybe. Or it's just programmed by Cyrus himself to make sure Elizabeth never escapes. Its eyes change to that orange color. It looked right at me as it was about to finish me off. Good thing Elizabeth was able to stop it just in time."

"Why did Cyrus put her in that Tower anyway? What can she even do that's worth the cost of your life Josh?" Calhoun asks

Josh narrows his eyes and looks back at Calhoun.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. This is something you have to see for yourself."

Calhoun narrows her eyes wondering what Josh means by that. Josh looks back at the road and up ahead, several cars are creating a jam and traffic isn't moving.

"And I think we're here."

Everyone looks up and sees sirens blazing. Josh stops at the end of the jam and everyone gets out of the pickup. Josh and them walk slowly and see several people watching the scene at the Bridge ahead. The five slowly walk up and see…a small snow storm being blown around the Bridge. Everyone except Josh is, well, confused.

"Is that normal?" Ralph asks

Josh shakes his head.

"A snowing bridge. Reminds me of _Sugar Rush_." Vanellope states

Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"Don't you remember what happened the last time we had a 'bridge' in _Sugar Rush_?', Josh asks, it takes Vanellope a second to know what Josh is talking about and she finally nods, Josh looks back up ahead, 'From the looks of it, it seems the police aren't letting anyone through."

"Then how do we get through?" Calhoun asks

Suddenly a loud screech is heard. Everyone ducks and tries to look up at the sky but it's too dark to see anything. Everyone covers their ears and slowly let go. Josh shakes his head.

"Is that Tweety?" Vanellope asks

"Yep. That's Tweety alright."

Josh walks ahead and walks up to a civilian.

"Hey! Are the police letting anyone through?"

The civilian looks shocked at Josh.

"Are you kidding me!? Look at all that!', civilian says pointing, Josh sees, 'Look at all that snow! It's a winter wonderland in there! And no, the police aren't letting anyone through! There's something big out there that keeps…yelling."

Josh nods.

"More like screeching. Thanks."

Josh walks away from the civilian and back to his friends.

"Police aren't letting anyone through."

"What about the other side?" Felix asks

Josh looks back.

"Nah, probably the same thing on the other side. There's, gotta be some way to get in there…" Josh says thinking it over

Josh thinks for a moment and looks at the pickup.

_It…could handle the traction in there…maybe a little…_

Josh claps his hands together.

"Okay, get in the truck everyone."

Josh walks through them and they follow Josh.

"What are you planning on doing?" Calhoun asks

Josh smirks.

"You'll see." Josh says getting in the truck

The four stand there wondering what Josh means. They slowly get in the truck and Josh buckles his seatbelt.

"I suggest you all buckle up', the three in the pickup buckle up, Josh hits the roof, 'Ralph! Hold on!"

"Okay!"

Josh revves the engine and pulls to drive on the side of the road passed all the cars. He keeps going faster getting closer and closer to the entrance of the Bridge. The four see what Josh is about to do.

"Josh, Josh!" Calhoun yells

"Hold on."

"Stop Josh! Don't!" Calhoun orders

"Hang on!"

Vanellope ducks as Ralph clings onto the bed in back. Up ahead, the police see the truck speeding at them and they wave to stop the oncoming vehicle. Josh honks the horn and the cops jump out of the way as Josh crashes through the police roadblock. The police get back up and see the pickup drive into the snow and disappear.

"Dispatch! We have a vehicle entering the Bridge, probably won't make it to the other side. God watch their souls."

The Bridge…

Josh drives through the snow with the headlights and fog lights on with the wipers going. He tries to drive through the snow but can't even see five feet in front of him.

"This is terrible!" Josh yells

"Drive slowly." Calhoun orders

"I'm going one mile an hour it doesn't go any slower than that."

Vanellope tries looking out the windows.

"I can't even see anything."

"Nothing back here either folks." Felix says looking out his

Suddenly Ralph bangs on the roof of the truck and Josh rolls down the window and looks back at him.

"What?"

"Stop."

"Why?"

"STOP!"

Suddenly, bang, Josh bumps into several frozen parked cars and looks ahead. Josh looks completely disgusted.

"Oh, MAN!"

Everyone gets out and feels the wind blowing hard on them. Josh walks and jumps on the hood and sees nothing but pile ups of frozen cars everywhere. He shakes his head and looks back at everyone.

"Were on foot from here."

"Are you sure we should do that?" Calhoun asks

"We came all the way out here; we might as well keep pushing forward."

"Is she causing all this?" Vanellope asks

Josh nods.

"Yeah Vanellope, her powers relate to making snow and stuff."

"Snow? This is blizzard!"

"She's just scared. Once I find her, she'll probably knock it off."

"Where could she possible be?" Ralph asks

Josh looks back down the Bridge and looks up at one of the structures up ahead.

_The highest place…_

Josh points at one of the Bridge's structures and everyone sees.

"There! She's up there!"

"How could you know that?" Felix says trying to keep his hat on his head

"The highest place possible. Just like the Tower, come on!"

Josh jumps over the wreckage and everyone in tow follows Josh. At the top of one of the structures, Josh is in fact right. Elizabeth is lying down curled up on one of the catwalks around the top structures. She's softly crying making the blizzard below happen for some reason. Tweety flies by and Elizabeth hears it. She covers her ears just hoping maybe…Josh will come. Back on the ground, Josh leads the group ahead keeping his hand up to his face to keep the snow from hitting his eyes.

Behind him, the four stay in a straight line. Vanellope, Calhoun, Felix and Ralph. In that exact order. They each try to keep moving forward. Felix loses his balance and almost flies up, but Ralph catches him and sticks him to the ground.

"Thank you Ralph." Felix says keeping his hat on

Vanellope slips all over the place and gets pushed back, but Calhoun catches her and pushes her back ahead.

"You alright?" Calhoun asks

Vanellope nods throwing up her hoody.

"I'm f-f-freezing. I'm not even close to alright."

Calhoun looks up ahead at Josh whose just walking ahead far away from them.

"Josh!"

Josh looks back.

"Hold up!"

Josh sighs slowly and waits for the four to catch up. The four make it to Josh and he sees that they can't…handle the cold weather like human people can't.

"You guys alright?"

"This weather Josh isn't something were used to!" Calhoun yells

"It's cold huh?!" Josh yells with a smile

Calhoun looks serious at Josh. Josh looks straight up and sees the Bridge's structure right above him.

"Okay, the structure is right above me! I'm going to go up and get Elizabeth!"

"Should one of us go with you?" Calhoun asks

"No. Let me go by myself. Elizabeth knows me."

"Josh…its freezing. I can't stand here no more." Vanellope says holding herself

Josh looks down and sees Vanellope shivering. He takes off his coat and wraps it around her.

"Okay, just hang a bit more Vanellope. I make it to Elizabeth and she'll turn off the cold."

"Tell her to hurry! It's really cold!"

Josh nods with a smile.

"I know it. Phew!" Josh says rubbing his arms

Josh shivers and he makes it to the ladder. He climbs up a few steps and looks back at his friends.

"When the snow stops! Get ready!"

"For what?!" Ralph yells

"Tweety of course!"

Josh climbs up as the four huddle together. Back with Josh, he gets higher and higher, but as he climbs, the temperature seems to just get colder and colder.

"Ooooh God! PHEW! It's cold."

Josh can just feel his fingers getting colder. He climbs up even faster in hope of reaching the top.

"God I hope she's up here…"

Josh continues to climb as he gets closer and closer to the top of the structure. Back with Elizabeth, she slowly stands up and wipes her eyes. She hears the sound of the wind blowing and looks at her hands. Snow particles fall out of her hand like she's melting, but she's forcing the snow out for some reason. Elizabeth looks up and walks along the catwalk. She gets to the side and looks down at the long fall ahead of her. Elizabeth wipes her eyes again and holds onto the railing hard. She then, climbs over.

Elizabeth feels the wind blow against her face as her hair and ponytail flaps in the wind. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at the dark sky above her. Behind her, her fingers slowly start to let go. Back with Josh, Josh makes it to the top breathing heavily. He climbs onto the catwalk and rolls around trying to get feeling back in his body.

"Holy! HOLY SHIT! AHHHHH!"

Josh rubs his fingers hard together trying to get his feeling back. He stands up and looks around for Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth!"

The wind is so strong, that Elizabeth can't actually hear him. Josh looks around traveling in almost a complete circle.

"ELIZABETH~!" Josh yells echoing through the storm

Elizabeth opens her eyes as she gasps. She looks down at the abyss below and shakes her head not believing that it can be Josh. Josh gets closer and closer to Elizabeth. He sees a strange figure holding onto the railing on the other side.

"The hell is that?" Josh asks getting closer

Josh gets closer and closer to Elizabeth and sees she's about to let go.

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth shakes her head and Josh runs to her.

"NO!"

Elizabeth lets go but Josh reaches her in time and pulls her back. She opens her eyes and sees that Josh is really there.

"Josh? JOSH!"

"Elizabeth, hold on!"

"I thought you wouldn't come!"

"I did! Come on! HELP ME!"

Elizabeth remembers where she's at and hops over the railing. Josh sees Elizabeth coming back over on his side.

"There we go, there we go!"

Elizabeth holds on tight to Josh as the two fall down on their knees on the catwalk. Elizabeth continues to hold onto Josh as she cries in his chest. Josh pats her head and comforts her.

"There, there. It's okay now. You're safe."

"I didn't want to see him kill you."

Josh nods.

"I know Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sniffs and backs up.

"I didn't want anyone else getting hurt by him. That's why I created the storm."

Josh looks around.

"So, winter came early this year huh? You created the storm so no one would come on the bridge…"

Elizabeth nods.

"Yes. Anyone who came…Tweety would…you know."

Josh nods.

"Okay. Can you turn it off? My friends, especially me, are freezing."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"Josh, the second I take it away Tweety will come down and…"

"I know Elizabeth. I got a plan. Take it all away."

Elizabeth sees how serious Josh is about the snow. She looks down at her hands and turns around at the storm.

"Okay…"

Josh watches as Elizabeth raises her hands up high. Elizabeth closes her eyes and starts waving her hands. The snow begins to let up; the wind begins to calm down. Then all of a sudden, the storm comes to a complete stop. Josh sighs in relief and Elizabeth turns around.

"Phew! Man I'm glad that's over with."

As Elizabeth walks to Josh, a loud screech is heard and the two look up at the night sky. Elizabeth gets scared as Josh grabs his staff.

"Oh no. He's coming. He's coming, he's coming, he's coming Josh." Elizabeth says nervously

Josh walks around the catwalk.

"Good."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes seeing that Josh wants Tweety to come to him. As Josh walks to the corner of the structure, Josh spots the lightning storm he heard on the radio.

"Yeah…that's right. Come on. COME ON! I'm right here! WOO-HOOOO!', Josh screams waving his staff around trying to concentrate on the lightning storm, 'I'm right here! Come and get me you son of a bitch!"

Tweety screeches loudly and Josh spots it flying through the dark clouds. Josh stands up against the metal railing.

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU TAKE HER EVER AGAIN YOU HEAR ME?! HUH?!', Tweety screeches and Josh jumps back down on the catwalk, he looks up at the sky and sees the lightning bolts getting closer, Josh looks up back at the sky and sees Tweety's red eyes flying right at him, 'Come get me you feathered piece of shit!"

Josh runs back to Elizabeth and to the ladder. Elizabeth goes down first as Josh stays above her. Suddenly Tweety flies by and shakes up the structure hard. Josh and Elizabeth continue to climb down the ladder. Elizabeth nearly slips on the ice and Josh sees.

"Careful!"

"I know! I can shoot ice remember?"

"Noted."

The two continue down. Suddenly Tweety sideswipes the ladder Josh and Elizabeth are on and the ladder below them shatters.

"Oh no!" Elizabeth yells

"What now?!" Josh asks looking down

"The ladder!"

Josh looks past Elizabeth and sees a section of the ladder is missing.

"Oh great…how much worse can this get?"

Suddenly cracking is heard. Josh looks up and sees pieces of the ladder above him begin to fall out.

"I just had to say it didn't I?"

"Josh, what are we going to do?"

"Uh…uh!', Josh looks down and sees that there really not that high up, but a good twenty foot drop, 'Elizabeth, jump!"

"Jump?"

"Yes. Jump for it!"

Elizabeth looks down and sees the jump.

"I can't jump that!"

"The ground is covered in snow; it should be a soft landing."

"'Should'?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Just jump!"

Josh hops over and down past Elizabeth and pulls her down with her. Elizabeth screams at the top of her lungs as Josh just…yells. The two fall back down onto the Bridge. On the ground, the four see the storm is gone and look around.

"Where are they?" Ralph asks

"Did Josh stop the storm?" Vanellope asks taking off her hoody

Suddenly screaming is heard. Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"Everyone, stop moving."

Everyone looks at Calhoun and stop moving. The screaming gets louder and Calhoun looks up and sees Josh and Elizabeth falling.

"Look!" Calhoun yells pointing

Everyone looks up and see two dots falling. Vanellope narrows her eyes and puts her hand over her head.

"What's that?"

The objects get closer and closer and turn out to be Josh and Elizabeth.

"That's, That's!" Ralph yells

Everyone watches as Josh and Elizabeth fall down and crash into a mountain of snow. They rush to them and Josh shoots up out of the snow.

"WHEW! That was fun! Want to do that again? Elizabeth?"

Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth head down in the snow kicking her feet around. He laughs and pulls her out.

"You okay?"

Josh wipes the snow off of Elizabeth's face and head.

"Elizabeth? Can you hear me?"

Elizabeth slowly looks up with a blank stare on her face. Josh sees and narrows his eyes.

"What?"

Elizabeth picks up a pile of show in her hand and makes it extra 'frosty'. She chugs it into Josh's face and Elizabeth smirks.

"I'm A LOT better. Thank you for asking." Elizabeth says standing up

Josh blows out the snow out of his mouth and wipes the snow out of his eyes.

"Clever. Cold. But clever."

Elizabeth smirks and slides down the hill. Josh tries the same thing but slips and falls.

"WHOA!"

Elizabeth looks back and watches Josh crash right into a big pile of snow. She shakes her head and Josh jumps up with electricity slowly shooting around him.

"Ow! Ow! Wet snow! Wet snow! Melting snow! Turning into water! HELP!"

Josh quickly rubs off the snow and slides next to Elizabeth.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh looks and sees everyone running towards him. He looks at Elizabeth.

"Come on."

Elizabeth nods and the two groups meet.

"Here." Vanellope says handing Josh's coat back

Josh sees and takes it.

"Oh! Thank you Vanellope." Josh says putting back on his coat

As Josh puts his coat back on. Tweety up top flies over the structure causing major damage to the Bridge. Everyone loses their balance and Josh looks up.

"That damn bird is going to kill us!" Josh yells

"I can't even see it!" Calhoun yells

"Just look for its eyes! Can't miss it!" Josh yells looking around

Josh turns around and runs to the side of the Bridge. Everyone looks and Josh just looks up at the sky and sees the thunder striking.

"Thunder…"

Josh looks up and sees Tweety flying in the dark clouds avoiding the lightning strikes. He suddenly gets an idea.

"A trap. A trap!', Josh turns around and waves to Elizabeth, 'Elizabeth! Come here!"

Elizabeth hops over the snow and walks alongside Josh.

"What?"

"Stand right here and call for Tweety."

"Why?"

"I'm going to contact one of the lightning strikes and hit Tweety with it."

Elizabeth flinches.

"You're going to do what?!"

"Tweety's flying around the storm, avoiding the lightning strikes, if he sees you, he'll come straight at you, when that happens, I hit him with a powerful bolt." Josh says punching his other hand with his fist

Elizabeth begins to look somewhat worried.

"But, but…"

Josh sees Elizabeth kind of against the idea.

"Elizabeth, this has to be done. We can't have that thing following you anymore."

"But Josh…"

"Just stand here and call its name! I'm finishing this!"

Josh steps a few feet away from Elizabeth and she looks out at the vast openness of the Bridge. Josh points his hand up at the sky and tries to connect his powers to the storm. Up in the sky, the lightning strikes hit near the Bridge. Josh sees it and tries to aim at where Tweety will appear in front of Elizabeth but it's very hard to control. Josh looks and sees Elizabeth not calling his name.

"Call his name Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth struggles for a moment and looks up.

"TWEETY~!"

Tweety's name echoes through the vast openness. The four stand around and just hear nothing but silence, besides the thunder striking. Tweety suddenly screeches and flies straight towards Elizabeth. Elizabeth sees Tweety.

"He's coming! He's coming Josh!"

Josh concentrates to get the right bolt ready. Tweety flies closer and closer and flaps its wings right in front of Elizabeth. Elizabeth falls back seeing Tweety is reaching out for her.

"Josh!"

Josh jumps out and Tweety sees. Its eyes change color from green to red seeing Josh. Josh smiles seeing Tweety sees him.

"Here's your charge you piece of shit!"

Josh throws down his arms really hard and a powerful lightning strike hits the back of Tweety and the electricity from it shocks Tweety to death. Everyone watches as Tweety gets electrified. Elizabeth just watches in horror and Tweety falls down to the river below the Bridge. Josh goes to the railing and sees Tweety crash into the water below. But a second later, Tweety comes back up trying to fly out of the water but its wings are wet and can't get up. Josh hits the railing seeing that Tweety is still alive.

"Doesn't this thing have an end?!"

Josh looks back and spots a tow truck in the pile of snow. He narrows his eyes and runs to it. Everyone watches as Josh untangles the cord behind the tow truck and he tosses one end to Ralph.

"Ralph, hold on tight to this cable."

Josh ties the other end around his hand. Ralph looks at the cable.

"What are you going to do?"

"Take a wild guess."

Calhoun looks and realizes Josh is going to jump over the railing down to Tweety below.

"You're really going to do that?"

Josh shrugs.

"I have to make sure it stops chasing Elizabeth. It's the only way."

Elizabeth looks back and sees what Josh is about to do.

"Josh, don't!"

Josh looks ahead and gets ready.

"Always do Elizabeth."

Josh runs and jumps over the railing. Elizabeth looks over the railing watching Josh fall down where Tweety is. Josh falls and falls and Ralph holds onto the cable as it slides through his hands. The truck comes to a stop of the cable because it's at its end. Josh stops violently and sees he's only several feet from Tweety.

"Come on! More slack!"

Josh pulls the cable and sees nothing happening. He looks back down at Tweety trying to get out of the water. Josh looks to the side and sees the pillar that the Bridge rests on in the water. He swings towards it and jumps on it. Tweety continues to screech and tries to pull out of the water. Josh slowly walks to the edge and sees the water inches from his feet. He kneels down and grabs his staff. Josh watches Tweety carefully as it sees what Josh is about to do. He gets a strong current going into the staff. Tweety swims its way to Josh to stop him. Josh throws up his staff and plunges it into the water.

"SCREECH FROM THIS!"

As Josh sticks his staff into the water, the current from his body shoots out and around into the water hitting anything in it. And in it, Tweety absorbs it getting severely damage by the shock. Josh yells at the top of his lungs to keep the current going. Back up top on the Bridge, everyone watches and sees a tiny light going on below the Bridge. Elizabeth watches horrified and runs away. Back with Josh, he keeps shooting out the electricity from his body for a few more seconds and finally stops.

"Ah!" Josh yells falling back

He breathes heavily as he feels the 'light' inside him is dwindling out. But as time passes, Josh gets his senses back and throws his head up. Josh sees Tweety's one eye shine just a bit. Its red light shines on Josh and slowly begins to turn off. Josh stands up looking at the cracked eye of the beast. Then finally, its eye shuts off completely. Josh sees that Tweety, is finally dead. He sighs in relief.

"Finally…"

As Josh looks at the hook from the tow truck cord right in front of him, just before he jumps to it he spots something shinning from Tweety's neck.

"Huh?"

Josh looks closer and sees a small chain necklace attached to Tweety's neck. He leans over to get it and pulls it off with his staff. Josh looks back at Tweety and wonders if that woke it up or something. But nothing happens and Josh looks at the necklace.

"The hell is this?"

Josh examines the necklace and flips it over. He sees the word 'Tweety', scribbled on their like a child would write it.

"'Tweety'. Elizabeth…" Josh says putting the necklace in his pocket

Josh backs up to jump to the hook. He runs and jumps over the water and grabs hold of the hook. Josh pushes down to alert Ralph to pull him up.

"Pull me up Ralph!"

Ralph sees the cable being pulled and pulls Josh up. Josh gets lifted back up on the Bridge and hops over the railing. He looks back down at Tweety not moving at all in the water. Everyone surrounds him.

"Is it over?" Vanellope asks

Josh nods slowly.

"Yeah…"

"Did you kill it?" Calhoun asks

"Fried it." Josh says rubbing his face

Josh breathes slowly and looks around. As he looks, he doesn't see Elizabeth anywhere.

"Where the hell is…', Josh walks ahead and everyone looks, 'Where is she?"

Everyone looks.

"Who?" Felix asks

Josh looks annoyed and looks back at everyone.

"Elizabeth! She was right here!"

"She must have fun off." Calhoun states

Josh sighs. He looks back around and looks down. Josh sees a trail of footprints going the other way of the Bridge.

"You guys head back to the Apartment. I'll find Elizabeth." Josh says moving ahead

Everyone looks and sees Josh going after Elizabeth. Again. Vanellope jumps over the snow.

"Are you sure? Should we come with?" Vanellope asks

Josh turns around.

"No. Go back. I'll handle this. You guys should…check yourselves out with E.D.I."

"Why's that?" Ralph asks

Josh stops and turns around. He narrows his eyes at his friends.

"As long as I've known you guys, I can't remember the last time any of you ever felt cold before."

The four realize it and Josh turns around. The gang stands there and heads back to the truck.

Half a mile down the road…

Josh stops for a second and catches his breath. He rubs his nose and looks around.

"Where did you go now Elizabeth?"

Josh sighs slowly, and as he does, he sees his breath in front of him.

"Huh?"

Josh blows his breath again and sees it. Its summer and Josh is seeing his breath.

"Elizabeth."

Josh looks around knowing she has to be close by. But she can be anywhere. Josh looks around and sees a cemetery to his left and a forest to his right. He thinks for a moment and grabs his phone.

"E.D.I.', Josh dials a number and gets connected right to E.D.I., 'E.D.I.?"

"Yes Josh, how can I help you?"

"Hey listen, I need you to run a scan for me?"

"Certainty. What did you break?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Not, ME. Something else. I'm looking for Elizabeth and I think she's nearby."

"What would you like for me to scan?"

"The coldest temperature you can possibly find."

"I will find the coldest temperature nearest to you. Hold your phone out."

Josh lends his phone out and spins around in a circle. E.D.I. does her scan and Josh stops exactly where he first started.

"Did you get that?"

"One moment please', Josh waits for a second and E.D.I. gets something, 'I have found something.', Josh listens in, 'The coldest readings I can get is to your left."

Josh looks to his left and figures Elizabeth might be in the Cemetery.

"Thanks E.D.I. Everyone is on their way back, I'll see you soon."

"Good luck Josh."

Josh nods.

"Thanks E.D.I."

Josh hangs up and enters the Cemetery.

Cemetery…

Josh walks further into the Cemetery looking around for Elizabeth. He feels the cold just getting colder and rubs his arms.

"Why cold? Why does it have to be cold?"

Josh looks ahead and sees ice. He shakes his head and steps over it. Josh passes a large tomb stone and looks to his right seeing Elizabeth looking the other way. He approaches her, slowly.

"Elizabeth…"

Elizabeth wipes her eye and brushes some hair off her forehead and on her head. She gets up and turns around at Josh. Josh flinches and nearly trips.

"Whoa!', Elizabeth flinches seeing Josh's reaction, Josh blinks and looks closer at Elizabeth, 'Elizabeth? Is, Is that you?"

Elizabeth nods.

"Yes. It's me Josh."

Josh blinks so he's not seeing thing. Josh looks up and down and sees Elizabeth's new look she's got going for her. She now has blue eyeliner around her eyes to match her eyes. Her hands show off the snow coming off her hands but absorbs it so she looks normal. Josh nods.

"Well, I just have to get this out. This new look you got going for you, really suits you."

Elizabeth blinks and sort of smiles.

"Yeah…it…it does?"

Josh walks around Elizabeth seeing her new look.

"Well, a girls got to do what a girls got to do I suppose', walks back in front of Elizabeth and stops, Josh snickers, 'You like this new look?"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"I'm not trapped in that Tower anymore. This is…the whole new me. I can't hide what I am."

Josh crosses his arms and slowly nods.

"Are you all right though?"

Elizabeth asks a bit nervously. She shakes her head.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. I'm-I'm-I'm fine. I'm fine. Really.', Elizabeth walks to Josh and grabs his hand, 'Thanks for asking by the way…"

As Elizabeth grabs Josh's hand, she nearly freezes it and Josh pulls away.

"OW! HOLY SHIT that's cold!"

Elizabeth covers her mouth as Josh gets the ice off and warms it up under his shoulder. Elizabeth freaks out.

"I'm-I'm sorry Josh. I swear I didn't mean to do that. I didn't want…"

Josh looks back at Elizabeth seriously.

"If you're going to come back with me, you HAVE to get a better grip on your powers!"

Elizabeth blinks to Josh's shout. Josh sighs slowly and looks the other way seeing what he just did. Elizabeth covers her face and walks away. Josh waves his hand.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth. I shouldn't have said that."

Elizabeth sits down.

"I deserve it though right?"

Josh looks and sees Elizabeth sitting down shaking. He sighs slowly and walks towards her.

"Hey come on. I know better than anyone what you're going through. With the right time this time and the proper training. You can learn how to control your abilities Elizabeth."

Elizabeth takes her hands off her face and stands up against Josh.

"No you don't Josh. No you don't. You do not know what I've been through. You got your powers off of someone else who just gave them to you. My powers…I just don't feel the cold. It hurts me too. And it's horrible."

Josh gulps.

"Then I guess that's something else Cyrus deserves when we go after him. Together. But if you're going to fight alongside me, us!', Josh points behind him, 'You have to get a better grip on your powers!"

Elizabeth gets in Josh's face.

"I KNOW THAT!', Josh backs up and Elizabeth walks away, "I just…I don't know how…" Elizabeth says looking at her hands

Josh holds his fist and sees a charge going. He stares at it and looks at Elizabeth's head.

"I'm still new at this whole superpower thing. But I feel like I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time.', Josh lets go of his fist and Elizabeth looks back up, 'You'll learn to control yourself Elizabeth. I know it. Your ice and…your rips."

Elizabeth sighs slowly and crosses her arms.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I'll be there, right beside you. Every step of the way."

Elizabeth looks around.

"And what about Cyrus? What if I can't…help you? I'll be just in the way getting attacked by those husk things."

Josh lends his hand out and touches Elizabeth's shoulder. He slowly spins her around and Elizabeth makes eye contact with Josh.

"That won't happen. Because I'll protect you.""

Josh puts his hand down and Elizabeth looks down. She takes a deep breath and sighs slowly.

"Okay…okay…" Elizabeth whispers

Josh nods.

"Let's finally go home Elizabeth."

Elizabeth nods and the two leave the Cemetery.

Several hours later…

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone waits patiently for Josh's return. Vanellope keeps looking over her shoulder at the elevator and doesn't hear it moving. She sits back forward and waits again. Suddenly the elevator shoots up and everyone looks. Vanellope hops over the couch and waits for Josh to rise up in front of her. The elevator stops and Josh throws up the door. He enters his Apartment with Elizabeth in tow.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Josh sees Vanellope running to hm. He kneels down and hugs her.

"Hey, told ya I'd be back."

Josh gets up and everyone else walks to him.

"Make it back okay?" Josh asks

"Tough getting out of the snow.', looks at Ralph, 'But we had someone dig us out." Calhoun says

Ralph blows on his fingers.

"No help from you guys, have any idea how cold that snow was?"

"We were inside, so I really don't know. "Vanellope says

"Thanks Kid. Really." Ralph says making a face

Josh shakes his head and looks at Elizabeth.

"Guys, this is Elizabeth', everyone looks at her, 'She's going to help us fight Cyrus. Elizabeth, this is Ralph."

"Hey." Ralph says waving his hand

"Felix."

"Hi. How are you?"

"Calhoun."

Calhoun nods.

"And Vanellope."

"What's up? Or, why so cold?"

Josh nudges Vanellope.

"Vanellope."

"Okay, sorry."

Elizabeth nods hiding her face.

"Hello."

"Come further inside."

Josh and them spin around and walk further into Josh's Apartment. Elizabeth slowly walks in seeing everything in Josh's Apartment. As Elizabeth walks further in, Plague swooshes in and no one notices.

"What's up yall?" Plague asks walking into the Kitchen

Josh turns around quickly and everyone looks too. Elizabeth narrows her eyes wondering who this girl is.

"Plague…?', Josh takes a few steps forward, 'Where have you been?" Josh asks with a serious look

Plague opens the fridge and looks for something to drink.

"Oh you know, here and there. Heard you've been quite busy. How was your day?" Plague asks with a smirk

Josh crosses his arms.

"Don't touch the Root Beer."

Plague puts her hands up and closes the fridge. She continues to smile and looks at Josh.

"Easy now. I wasn't. So, tell me about your…', sees Elizabeth, 'Who's the chick?"

Elizabeth turns at Plague who's asking about her. Josh looks at Elizabeth and back at Plague.

"Oh I almost forgot. Plague, this is Elizabeth."

Plague narrows her eyes.

"Elizabeth? Why's she here?', almost laughs, 'Ha…come to join the team? Who is she?" Plague asks leaning against the contour

Elizabeth narrows her eyes and looks hard at Plague. Josh smirks.

"She's the 'subject' that Cyrus locked up in that Tower."

Plague's eyes nearly pop out of her head and she flinches.

"For real!?"

Plague keeps her distance and just stares funny at Elizabeth. Elizabeth just watches as Plague keeps her distance from her.

"I'm surprised you're even alive. You got this walking disaster two feet from ya?"

Elizabeth looks serious.

"'Walking disaster'?"

Josh covers his mouth.

"Oh. That must have hurt."

Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"Who is this girl Josh?"

Josh smiles but shakes it off.

"Oh I almost forgot, Elizabeth this is Plague. Cyrus's daughter."

Elizabeth looks completely shocked and hard at Plague.

"The enemy's daughter is right here?"

"Daughter? I haven't been that guy's daughter since he tried to kill me."

"Killed you or not, what makes you think your just not a spy helping Cyrus himself?"

The tow slowly get into each other's face. Josh…just watches.

"Because if I was a spy princess, Cyrus would know where everyone is and have his husks do his dirty work for him."

"You're just waiting for the right time. That's all. Nothing's here for you to do even. Except maybe throw us off."

"You're starting to get on my nerves princess." Plague says getting a fire going in her hand

"And you're quite annoying." Elizabeth says getting ice on her hands

The two back up ready to fight. Josh sighs and steps in between them.

"All right, enough of this! The fight it out here, this is not a battle arena. Break anything in here, both of you should be more worried about me then Cyrus', looks at both of them, 'Knock it off."

Plague waves her hand away and looks disgusted, absorbing her fire and walks away. Elizabeth waves her hand shaking the ice off. She nods at Josh and he twirls around his staff.

"Things have got quite interesting."

Suddenly E.D.I. appears on screen.

"Josh. There is someone calling for you."

Josh walks to the couch.

"Who?"

"Cyrus."

Everyone freezes and looks their way towards the TV. Josh just blinks and looks serious

"Cyrus?"

"Yes. He would like to speak to you."

Josh breathes slowly and nods.

"Put him through."

E.D.I. does and Cyrus just pops on screen as if he's being recorded from a camera on a laptop.

"Josh? Josh! Long time no see buddy. How have you been?"

Josh gulps.

"Never better Cyrus."

"Well I hope so. Given your current circumstance, I'm surprised that you've made it this far.', Josh narrows his eyes really hard, Cyrus looks around, 'So what have you been doing these past couple days? Besides avoiding the law, you seemed quite busy. Especially from the news reports I hear."

Josh smiles and looks funny at Cyrus.

"Well Cyrus I'm going to be straight with ya. These past couple days have been…well, interesting. Besides my friends here who are going to stop at nothing to stop ya, I've picked up two girls that you might know."

Cyrus looks confused and blinks.

"You brought two innocent girls with you to join your fight. Ha! That must have been fun."

Josh laughs.

"Well, one's actually very innocent. The other, well, she's a chip off the old block…', turns at Plague and waves his hand to bring her on over, 'Hey Cyrus, you might actually know this girl', Plague walks in front of the screen, 'Say hello to your daughter Cyrus."

Cyrus looks shocked.

"Plague?"

Plague crosses her arms.

"Cyrus."

Cyrus smiles.

"Plague...you should have told me you came out as well. I would've thrown you a welcome party."

"And I wouldn't have showed up."

"Now, now. Don't talk to your father that way."

"You haven't been my 'father' since you tried to kill me.', Cyrus sighs, Plague smiles, 'But you wouldn't have guessed that I would absorb your virus and use it to my own will did ya?"

"Mistake, Plague. Just like you."

Plague narrows her eyes hard.

"Go to hell Cyrus."

Cyrus just waves her off. Josh smirks and walks to Elizabeth.

"There's someone else you might know."

"And who might that be?" Cyrus asks walking back to the screen

"In a sense, I think you're afraid of her."

"Afraid of whom, Josh?"

Josh walks to Elizabeth and kindly guides her to the screen so Cyrus can see her. Cyrus's mouth drops recognizing her on the spot.

"Recognize her Cyrus? The 'subject' you locked up in that Tower her whole life."

Cyrus rubs his eyes and looks annoyed at Josh.

"You have…any idea what you just done boy?"

"Yeah, but if it's pissing you off I've succeeded wonderfully."

"You have no idea what hell you just brought on yourself. There's a reason I locked her up in that Tower. To keep everyone safe."

"Safe from everyone? Or you?" Elizabeth asks

Cyrus smiles.

"Now, now…Elizabeth was it? Nice name to choose for yourself. Last time I saw you, you were only a baby."

"I still don't know who you are, but Josh has told me enough about you to take you down."

"Yeah, Josh is quite the story teller isn't he? I'm completely blown away that you, you're Tower and my little bird managed to get out of the game world and arrive here. I knew those news reports sounded…a bit off. I never imagined that Josh would be able to get you. Especially my bird from stopping you."

"I'll admit it was a pain in the ass. Just like you." Josh comments

"Huh…so what are you thinking right now Josh? You think because you have my daughter. And that girl I locked up. You think having them on your side is going to change anything? To stop me even?"

"There are more of us then there are of you. Good odds from what I see."

Cyrus nods.

"I see.', Cyrus sighs and sits down, 'Okay. This has a wrong turn of events but it doesn't matter. You saw my puppets right outside your home. So I already know where you live Josh. Hell, I'm talking to you right now."

"You trying to scare me Cyrus?"

"No. I'm just telling you how the game is going to work."

"Game? You think this is all a game?"

"Well I'm sure having fun! Woo-hoo!"

"Son of a bitch…" Josh says walking around the couch

"But let me cut to the chase, I have a lot of work to do. So, I know where you live. I can do anything I want to lead any law enforcement within a hundred mile radius to come knocking on your door and to arrest you Josh."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because it's no fun if you're out of the game. So remember that Josh. I'm the one who made the F.B.I. come after you."

Josh looks disgusted.

"I already know that."

"But then you must know that I have the power to make it all go away."

That catches Josh's eye.

"What?"

"If I can make you look like the monster you are to your people, then I can make them love you. Want the heat off of you Josh? You want to walk down the street without looking over your shoulder?"

Josh gulps and rubs his head.

"You've got to be kidding me right? Why would you want everyone to like me and get the cops off my back? Unless there's something you want in return."

Cyrus snaps his thumbs.

"That's right Josh! That's right. I want something from you. More specifically, who I want."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Who do you want?"

Cyrus leans closer to the screen and points at Elizabeth behind Josh.

"Her.', everyone turns at Elizabeth and she sees it, she slowly backs up, 'I want Elizabeth. You give me her, and I'll return the favor by getting the F.B.I. off your back."

Josh looks at Elizabeth and she looks at Josh. He just blinks and looks back at the screen.

"Why do you want her?"

"Think of it as a double favor Josh. You give me her, and I'll take her off your hands. You have no idea what she can do."

Josh smiles and crosses his arms.

"You mean her rips?', Cyrus's smirk goes away, Josh continues to smile, 'Yeah, I know about them. There kind of cool in my opinion. But you don't care about my opinion do you?"

Cyrus sighs hard.

"Fine. You know her dangerous little secret. But know this, she's quite unstable. Having one of her rips pull you in, you'll be in another place without being able to go back."

"I'll take my chances. Thanks for your concern."

Cyrus shakes his head.

"Your wellbeing I suppose.', Cyrus looks at the time, 'Its 11:59 Josh. In twenty four hours, I'll call back to hear your decision."

Josh shrugs.

"Fine."

"But keep in mind Josh. Think of it this way…', Josh waits to hear Cyrus's response, 'Give me the girl…and I'll leave you alone.', Josh gulps, 'You don't want husks now in your home now do you? People who once lived and walked on the streets of this world…you want to take out even more of them?', Josh rubs his head, 'I'll hear your response in twenty four hours. Remember that Josh."

Cyrus hangs up. Josh stand there rubbing his head thinking about Cyrus's offer. Everyone looks at Josh and they see him struggling what to do. Elizabeth gulps wondering if Josh is going to give her up or not.

_Give Elizabeth to Cyrus…and he'll leave me alone? What should I do?_

End of Chapter 16…

Preview of Chapter 17…

With Josh on the fence about Cyrus's offer. Elizabeth feels like Josh is going to do it. But Josh knows better, within the twenty four hour period, Josh has to find more clues of Cyrus's plans. But with the one guy dead, all seems like a dead end. But Elizabeth brings an interesting idea to the group. David is technically dead in this world, but what if he's alive in another? Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 17 – First Choice Part 1


	17. Chapter 17 - First Choice Part 1

(Sorry Readers for the long wait, this chapter…is well…really long. Oh by the way, the drawing of the main character, Josh is up. Just look at the cover of the story. Enjoy)

Chapter 17 – First Choice Part 1

Josh's Apartment…

Josh stands in silence thinking about Cyrus's offer. Everyone looks at him wondering what he's going to do. Midnight strikes and everyone still waits for a reply from Josh. Josh just rubs his chin and…shrugs.

"Hmm."

Josh walks away while everyone watches him. He walks up to his record player and takes the record off. Elizabeth shakes her head seeing the way Josh is acting. Josh puts the record away and grabs a new one. He blows on it to get the dust off and puts it on the record player. Josh picks up the needle and smooth jazz plays throughout the Apartment. Josh snaps his thumbs to the beat of the music. Elizabeth sighs softly and finally says something.

"Josh."

Josh spins around with a cheerful face.

"Well! I had a long day. Longest I've ever had."

Everyone looks at Josh and sees him somewhat cheerful. Elizabeth narrows her eyes as Josh walks to her.

"You probably had a long day too. Best probably from what I can tell. Why don't we all get a nights rest and continue this conversation in the morning."

Plague drops her arms.

"You high or something?"

Josh keeps his cheerful face and looks funny at Plague.

"Hey Plague, don't you have somewhere else to be besides here at the moment? Or do I need to make room for you to sleep here too? How's the floor sound?"

Plague backs up.

"No thanks. I found a hot spot that suits my tastes."

"Does it involve a heater?" Josh asks with a smile

Plague smirks and walks to the elevator. Josh just watches.

"Come back here in the morning. And I mean, 'COME, BACK'. We have a lot of work to do."

Plague waves her hand like she cares.

"Yeah, yeah. Understood Sir."

Josh rolls his eyes and Plague swooshes out of there. He sighs slowly and looks at Elizabeth and smiles happily.

"Why don't I show you were you can sleep?"

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"But, but what about Cyrus…"

Josh nudges Elizabeth along.

"Don't worry about Cyrus, will talk about that in the morning, right now, let's get you some rest okay."

As Josh guides Elizabeth out of the room, he looks back at his friends.

"See you in the morning guys."

Ralph waves, Felix salutes, Calhoun nods. But Vanellope she shows a little concern of Josh going to his room with Elizabeth.

Inside Josh's Room…

Josh opens the door to his room and guides Elizabeth in.

"And this is my room."

"Hmm…"

Elizabeth curiously looks around Josh's room. Josh walks to his desk and puts down his staff on top of it. Elizabeth walks to one side of Josh's room and sees a shelf of personal belongings, photographs of Josh and his parents. An only a few of him, with his brother and parents. Elizabeth narrows her eyes and sees a funny looking device. Elizabeth picks up Josh's old watch he wore during his adventure in Game Central Station. She narrows her eyes at it and tilts her head.

"Josh? What is this funny looking device?"

Josh turns casually and sees Elizabeth holding his old watch. He flinches and runs to her.

"No!"

Elizabeth jumps and sees Josh running to her. Josh carefully takes it out of Elizabeth hands and she keeps her hands close to her. He carefully inspects the watch and sighs in relief. Elizabeth sees Josh somewhat glad that he has it back in his hands.

"I'm, I'm sorry Josh."

Josh shakes his head.

"No, no. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. This watch you were holding it's just…', Josh carefully sets it back down on the shelf, 'It's really important to me. A strong memento. You know?"

Elizabeth nods.

"I understand."

Josh breathes slowly through his nose and walks to his bed. Elizabeth watches as Josh taps the corner of it.

"Come and lay down."

Elizabeth looks down at Josh's bed and keeps close to herself. Josh moves out of the way as Elizabeth walks to the side of Josh's bed and sits down. Josh nods and leans against his door. Elizabeth looks back at the photographs and sees the little boy in them. She gulps.

"Is that your little brother?"

Josh turns his head and looks at the photographs on the shelf. He nods slowly.

"Yeah…" Josh whispers

Elizabeth nods.

"I see."

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and sees her softly rubbing her right hand where the bandage is over her right pinky. He gulps and turns around.

"Good night Elizabeth."

Elizabeth turns and sees Josh leaving.

"Josh, wait."

Josh stops and looks back.

"Yeah?"

Elizabeth gulps and hides her face.

"Could…Could you stay for a second?', Josh just blinks, 'Until I fall asleep?"

Josh slowly gulps and nods. He closes the door and walks alongside his bed. He sits down on the floor and Elizabeth finally lays herself down on his bed. A couple of moments pass by and Josh just stares down at the ground before him. Elizabeth just looks at Josh seeing him sideways.

"So, what now?"

Josh shrugs.

"I take one day at a time Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks down with her eyes.

"So no Paris huh?"

Josh remembers and shakes his head.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I…I had to get you to come with me."

Elizabeth sort of understands.

"It's okay. It's just a dream of mine to go there."

"Why Paris?"

"Why not Paris?"

"It's alright I guess. I saw the Eiffel Tower through one of the windows to your home."

"I read this book about Paris. It sounded beautiful from the way it was described."

Josh thinks for a moment.

"So…one book at a time then?"

Elizabeth digs her head into Josh's mattress and hides the fact that she's smiling.

"I had a lot to read."

Josh nods.

"Uh-huh…"

Elizabeth gets comfortable.

"Your bed…it's really comfortable."

"Best on the market."

Elizabeth rolls over and Josh takes notice.

"Josh? Can I ask you something?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Sure."

Elizabeth thinks and looks like she's about to cry. But keeps it in.

"What…did you exactly do to Tweety?"

Josh gulps and reaches down in his pocket. He pulls out the necklace that Elizabeth made for Tweety long ago.

"Why?" Josh asks staring at the necklace

Elizabeth gulps hard.

"I know I shouldn't care…because I said I hated him…but I have to know…what did you do to him?', Josh diverts his eyes looking away, Elizabeth starts to become uneasy, 'Did you just hurt him enough to…let him go? I just want to know Josh…"

Josh sighs slowly and stands up. He looks down at Elizabeth laying the other way and places the necklace in front of Elizabeth. She sees it and Josh backs up. Elizabeth picks up the necklace recognizing it. She looks…shocked.

"This is…"

Josh wipes his face.

"I couldn't…take the risk…', Elizabeth shuts her eyes, 'It was in the water…and water and electricity don't mix well together and I…did what I had to do." Josh says breaking up for loss of words

Elizabeth curls up holding the necklace tightly. Josh sees Elizabeth getting emotional about it.

"Elizabeth…I'm…I'm so, sorry." Josh says closing his eyes

Elizabeth sniffs hard. Josh looks at the door and goes to it. He decides to just leave her alone. As Josh closes the door behind him, he hears faint crying coming from the room. Josh shuts the door and walks back into the Apartment. As Josh walks into his Apartment, he sees everyone is asleep. He nods and walks to his TV. Josh gets hooked up and appears on screen. He creates a bed for himself and falls right on it going to sleep.

Following Morning…

E.D.I. wakes Josh up and he waves her off.

"E.D.I.?"

"It is morning Josh."

Josh sighs and rolls over.

"It feels like I just went to sleep. Time in here moves faster than out there', yawns, 'Eight hours of sleep here is like half. God…', Josh gets up and E.D.I. watches, 'Send me out."

E.D.I. nods and Josh wakes up in his body. He stretches his arms and legs and gets the feeling back. Josh sighs.

"Man…I need a Root Beer."

Josh walks past his friends who are still sleeping. He makes it to the kitchen and opens the fridge. He pops off the top. And Josh closes the door, it makes a loud THUD sound and Vanellope and Calhoun wake up.

"Oh…" Calhoun says

Vanellope yawns and sees Josh is already up.

"Josh."

Josh sees Vanellope walking towards her. He looks to the side and sees Calhoun coming to him as well.

"Ladies."

"Josh. I have a request." Calhoun asks

Josh narrows his eyes looking at Calhoun.

"What?"

"Felix and I need better living arrangement."

Josh looks shocked and nods.

"You do huh? Why?"

"I can't sleep on that couch anymore. It's too uncomfortable."

Josh nods.

"Are we really talking about your sleeping arrangements? I thought you were a lot tougher than that."

Calhoun makes a face.

"Why does she have a good first nights rest while we sleep out here?" Calhoun asks

Josh sets down his Root Beer.

"Elizabeth you mean?"

"Yes Elizabeth."

"Calhoun…" Josh says rubbing his face

"Look, Josh. You said you were going to wait till morning to talk about this. Then let's talk about it." Vanellope says

Josh looks at Vanellope.

"Vanellope?"

"What are you going to do?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks at Vanellope and Calhoun. He backs.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm not giving going to give her to Cyrus."

Calhoun shakes her head.

"Same old Josh. No matter what the circumstance." Calhoun says

"Calhoun, really?"

"We all heard what Cyrus said. If he's telling the truth, you need the breathing room."

"By giving up Elizabeth? That's not me. Forget it Calhoun."

"But Josh, you're not thinking clear…"

Josh slams his hand.

"No Calhoun!"

Calhoun flinches back. Josh calms down and opens his fist.

"Just listen to yourself."

Back inside Josh's room. Elizabeth wakes up and yawns. She looks around Josh's room and remembers where she's at. Elizabeth gets up and walks to the door, as she opens it she hears Josh talking.

"Let's just say I do give her to Cyrus', Elizabeth closes the door but keeps it open big enough to hear Josh talk, 'He takes her and he does what he says. Yippy…the feds and God knows who else gets off my back. Victory? Yes. My moral level…balanced."

Elizabeth lowers her head and looks back up. She then looks upset and closes the door. Josh sighs slowly.

"Look at you Calhoun. Is it because you're not in your game no more that you've lost your sense of judgment?"

Calhoun crosses her arms.

"I'll admit, things do work differently here. Especially for us. But you heard Cyrus; none of us are in our games no more. And with whatever Elizabeth can do, if she's unstable like he says, she's just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off." Calhoun explains

Josh rubs his face and takes a sip of his Root Beer.

"I don't believe that. Not for one second. Elizabeth's staying. And not you, or you will change my mind. We need the help."

"Even with Plague?" Vanellope asks

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Yes. Even with Plague Vanellope."

Plague swooshes in and walks behind Vanellope.

"What about me?"

Vanellope jumps and Calhoun turns her head. Josh acts causal.

"Just betting these two if you would show up. See girls? She's here."

Plague shrugs.

"Did I even have a choice?"

Josh smirks.

"Of course you did. You came here on your own didn't ya?"

Plague sighs slowly. Suddenly Felix yawns and Josh looks.

"Morning Felix."

"Morning brother."

"Felix, you mind getting Elizabeth? I think I have an idea for our next move."

"Sure thing."

Ralph suddenly wakes and falls back down. Felix walks to Josh's room. Inside Josh's room, Elizabeth walks back and forth really upset for hearing what Josh was saying.

"That son of a…I'm getting out of here."

Felix walks up to the door and knocks.

"Um, excuse me?"

Elizabeth looks at the door and gets ready.

"What?"

"May I come in?"

Elizabeth smirks and gets her ice going.

"Go right ahead."

Felix opens the door and suddenly snow gets pushed into his face and he goes flying.

"WHOA!" Felix yells

Everyone looks at what Felix is yelling about and suddenly everyone sees Felix flying at him and everyone ducks.

"DUCK!" Josh yells

Everyone ducks behind the contour and Calhoun quickly catches Felix behind the contour. Plague moves back up wondering what just happened.

"The hell you flying for?"

"It wasn't me! Her!"

Josh turns and so does everyone else. Elizabeth runs out shooting ice and snow all over the place.

"GET DOWN!" Josh yells

Elizabeth runs to the elevator as she continues to fire snow and ice particles. Plague keeps her hand before her melting anything that's being shot at her. Everyone hides behind the contour as Elizabeth boards the elevator.

"What did you do Felix?!" Josh asks

"Nothing! I opened the door and she did this!"

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth struggles with the elevator door and finally shuts it. Josh hears the same noises of the elevator and stands up. Elizabeth hits the switch and goes down.

"Elizabeth!" Josh yells jumping over the contour and to the elevator

As Josh makes it to the elevator door, he looks down at Elizabeth going down.

"What are you doing!?" Josh yells down the shaft

"Don't follow me!"

Josh shakes his head and looks back.

"Will someone explain to me what the hell just happened?"

Plague shrugs and everyone slowly stands up.

"Guess she doesn't want to be part of the team."

Josh shakes his head and looks down the shaft.

"She doesn't know her way around the Factory but I do."

"Wait, you're going after her?" Calhoun asks

Josh shakes his head in a 'duh' like way.

"Uh, yeah! This is just a big misunderstanding. I have to catch her." Josh says raising the elevator door

"Have fun with that." Plague says

Josh looks back at Plague.

"You serious?"

"I'm here to fight Cyrus, not chase little princesses."

"Plague."

"If you don't leave now you won't catch her soon enough." Plague explains

Josh looks funny at Plague and shakes his head. He knows she's right.

"All right, I'll be right back. I hope."

"Famous last words." Calhoun says

Josh looks back at Calhoun and stares at her funny. He looks to the side and sees Ralph still asleep.

"While I'm gone, wake Ralph up!"

Josh looks at the cable cords of the elevator and jumps on them and slides down. Vanellope sees and runs at Josh.

"Josh!"

Josh slides down the elevator shaft as Vanellope watches. The elevator finally stops and Elizabeth throws up the door and runs through the many hallways of the factory. Josh continues to slide down the shaft and sees the elevator. He lets go and lands hard onto the elevator.

"Oh! Ooh, oh….Elizabeth!"

Josh runs into the hallways as well and sees Elizabeth down the hallway running away from him.

"Elizabeth stop!"

"Get away from me!" Elizabeth yells turning around the corner

Josh sighs hard.

"I just want to talk to you!"

Elizabeth looks back and ices the floor. She turns back around and runs for it. Josh isn't aware of it but as he turns around the corner, he slides on the ice that Elizabeth made and hits the wall hard.

"OW!"

Josh spins around and runs ahead. Elizabeth opens a set of double doors and runs out into the factory area.

"Stop!" Josh orders

"I said stay away!"

"What happened?! Why are you running!?"

Elizabeth looks back.

"How dare you even ask such a question!"

"WHAT?!"

Josh runs through the set of double doors and sees the factory before him. He looks ahead and sees Elizabeth ahead of him. Josh runs and gets closer to Elizabeth. Elizabeth looks back and sees Josh gaining, but as she looks back she sees a rip appearing. She smiles and uses her powers to open it. As Josh runs the rip opens revealing to be a past even of a man on a forklift in Josh way. Josh slides and stops and sees the rip happening before him.

"Hey! Elizabeth!"

The rip fades away and Josh continues.

"Stop following me!"

"Will you listen to me for a second!?"

"NO!"

"I just want to know why you're so pissed!"

As Elizabeth makes it outside the factory, another rip appears and she opens it. As Josh runs to the doors, the rip appears and several factory workers walk Josh way getting in his way.

"Hey! Watch it! Move it!"

The rip disappears and Josh runs outside.

Out the Factory…

Josh looks left and right seeing Elizabeth climbing on a ladder up to the roof.

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth looks and sees Josh running to the ladder. She spots a rip and opens it. As Josh runs, a rip appears and a train passes by. Josh shakes his head.

"Really?! God dammit!"

The rip goes away and Josh climbs the ladder.

"Enough already!"

Elizabeth makes it to the roof.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Josh starts to climb the ladder. He reaches the top and sees Elizabeth climbing another ladder up to a higher roof. Josh sighs hard and goes up it. Elizabeth makes it to the top and looks down. She sees Josh still chasing her. Elizabeth shakes her head and looks around. There's nowhere else to run. As Josh climbs the ladder, it's really old and very loose. But Josh climbs hard shaking the ladder then all of a sudden it comes loose.

"Oh no…" Josh says seeing it

He looks up seeing screws falling out.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Elizabeth looks down seeing the ladder falling off the wall. Josh falls with the ladder and he sees the ground below him. Elizabeth sighs and opens another rip, which turns out to be another ladder. Josh quickly grabs onto it and looks around.

"Huh? Wha…What?"

Josh realizes that Elizabeth saved him by opening a rip from keeping him falling. He starts to laugh and looks around.

"Phew! Close call don't you think?"

Elizabeth climbs down beside Josh and he turns. She opened another rip to climb down to the roof beside Josh. It's a long gap between Josh and the roof. Elizabeth walks to the side and keeps her arms cross looking away from Josh.

"Don't think I saved you because I wanted to."

Josh's grip is slowly getting out of his hand from the rip ladder.

"Elizabeth…I'm…I'm slipping here!"

"Don't follow me anymore!"

"Hey! At least tell me why you're so pissed! I deserve that at least!"

Elizabeth turns back around looking disgusted at Josh.

"You got a lot of nerve Mr. Litwak', Josh rolls his eyes hearing Elizabeth calling him Mr. Litwak again, Elizabeth shrugs, 'If you must know your own treachery fine. I heard what you said."

Josh looks lost.

"Huh?"

"You're planning on giving me to Cyrus."

Josh shakes his head.

"No! No I'm not!"

"Then why did you say such things to Calhoun and Vanellope?"

"We were just talking! I wasn't being serious!"

"Oh speak the truth now and lie to me later."

"I'm not lying to you Elizabeth! I'm telling the truth! Calhoun was talking to me about it and I told her I'm not like that. You have to trust me here."

"Trust comes from a long way of seeing you by your actions."

"Look, I have an idea on how to find more clues about Cyrus. Come along with me, and you'll see for yourself that you can trust me."

Elizabeth sighs.

"I don't trust you Mr. Litwak."

Josh sees the expression on Elizabeth's face.

"Look Elizabeth, if you don't believe me on this you might as well let this rip go and let me fall to my death', Elizabeth turns back and sees Josh serious, 'Because I can't do this without you."

Elizabeth looks the other way and back.

"You got plenty of other people to help you."

"But not you. Partners?" Josh asks lending out his hand

Elizabeth sees it and looks the other way. Josh's grip begins to let up and Elizabeth grabs it.

"For now. Partners."

Elizabeth pulls Josh on the roof as the rip from the ladder disappears.

"Don't get to comfortable with my company Mr. Litwak."

Josh sighs.

"Fine.', Elizabeth walks away, Josh watches, 'Thank you though.', Elizabeth stops, 'You saved my life after all." Josh says walking past her

Elizabeth watches as Josh goes on ahead. She looks down…and follows Josh back to the Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone waits for Josh's return. Plague is just relaxing on the couch just holding her axe in one hand. Suddenly the elevator's controls start up and everyone, except Plague looks.

"They're coming back." Vanellope says walking to the door

The elevator comes and Josh throws up the door.

"Hey guys."

"Josh. Everything okay?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth keeping really close to herself.

"More or less."

Elizabeth doesn't look. Josh looks around the room and sees Ralph up.

"Ralph. Nice to see you up. Have a nice rest?"

Ralph yawns.

"Was until I woke up."

Josh smiles funny at Ralph. He looks around and sees Plague is missing. Josh gets more annoyed.

"Where's Plague?"

Plague raises her axe up and Josh sees.

"Don't worry I'm here. I don't plan on running out and making a scene either.', Elizabeth looks hard at Plague, 'I thought I just let you know."

Josh blinks and claps his hands.

"Okay then. Since we're all here, I have a plan in action."

Everyone looks at Josh. Vanellope walks in front of Josh.

"What plan?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks at Calhoun.

"Hey Calhoun, remember when we went to that Good Time Club?"

Calhoun rolls her eyes.

"I'm still trying to forget."

Josh shrugs.

"Well hate to remind ya but we have to go back."

Calhoun looks surprised.

"What? Why?" Calhoun says standing up

"I don't think we found everything from there that night. E.D.I. may have copied everything off his computer but she's still decrypting the files. Right E.D.I.?"

"That is correct Josh."

Elizabeth looks around to who just said that.

"Josh? Who said that?'

Josh realizes he never introduced Elizabeth to E.D.I.

"Right, sorry. Elizabeth, that's E.D.I. over there. Right there', Josh points and Elizabeth sees E.D.I. on screen, 'E.D.I. this is Elizabeth."

"Hello Elizabeth."

Elizabeth carefully waves wondering if it's the right thing to do.

"Um, hello."

"I never got an introduction." Plague says still sitting on the couch

Josh makes a face and wipes it.

"E.D.I., say hello to Plague."

"Hello Plague."

Plague nods.

"Feel better now?'

"A little."

"Good, we got the introductions out of the way now?', Josh looks around and no one says anything, 'Good. I'm going back to that club to see if there's anything left. If anyone wants to come. Follow me, NOW." Josh says walking to the elevator

Josh stands at the elevator alone for a few second. Then Ralph, Vanellope, Felix come. Calhoun takes a deep breath and gets up to.

"This time I'll be prepared." Calhoun says walking to the elevator

Plague sighs and gets up. Josh sees its Elizabeth and Plague still in the apartment. Plague walks up alongside Elizabeth who still is looking away. Plague faces the group and Josh sees.

"Coming ladies?"

Plague looks at Elizabeth who still doesn't look at anyone.

"I'm up for some dancing. How about you frosty?"

Elizabeth turns her head and looks disgusted at Plague. Plague just smirks and the two look funny at each other. Josh whistles.

"Later, not NOW."

The two walk to the elevator and get in. Josh shuts the door and goes down.

_This should be…really interesting…_

Sometime Later…

Outside Good Time Club…

The group walks up the steps of the Good Time Club. They hear music inside but they see the place is closed down from the CDC. Everyone sees the bubble wrap around the front doors.

"CDC? What's that?" Calhoun asks

"Center Disease Control. Probably was here when they picked up Everett's body."

"Should we go in there?" Vanellope asks

"There's nothing to worry about Vanellope. We know what it is. The disease."

"Virus', Plague says, Josh turns around, 'It's a virus man."

Josh nods.

"Right Plague. Virus. I meant virus." Josh says walking up the steps

Everyone follows Josh up the steps.

Inside the Good Time Club…

Josh pushes the plastic wrap out of his way and everyone follows him inside. The place is empty but the music is still playing.

"What's that awful ruckus?" Elizabeth asks covering her ears

Plague gets along with the music smiling.

"That's music for ya snow queen. Whoooo! I bet this place was kicking when it was opened!" Plague says bobbling her head to the music

Josh smiles.

"Yeah it was. For some people. Calhoun's experience on the other hand…well…she kind of met her match."

Calhoun makes a face staring at the back of Josh's head.

"I was ambushed while you were being distracted by all the half-naked girls around here."

Ralph and Felix quickly look at each other and back at Josh.

(Same time)

"Half naked girls?"

Josh stops and slowly turns around.

"Easy boys…your tongues are hanging out of your heads. Felix…"

Felix clears his throats and looks around like nothing was said.

"I didn't hear anything. Did you hear anything Ralph? Ralph?"

Felix looks up and sees Ralph just daydreaming. He looks back over his other shoulder and sees Calhoun…looking down at him funny. Josh sighs and walks to the way to David's office.

"David's office is this way guys. Come on."

Everyone follows Josh to David's office.

David's Office…

Everyone enters David's Office. Ralph squeezes through the tiny door while everyone looks around.

"And what should we be looking for?" Plague asks like she cares look on her face

"Anything related to Cyrus and his plans."

"We already know his plan. He's turning your world in the game world." Elizabeth states

"Yes. I know that Elizabeth, but there's something else he's planning in the meantime. Like with the children for example. Spread out and look around."

Everyone goes their own way and each of them use different tactics to find clues. Josh sits at Everett's desk searching the drawers and such. Calhoun scans the wall of endless books. Felix checks out the small dining area, under the sofa's to be exact. Vanellope looks in the trash can and finds crumbled up papers. So she spins it around and dumps all the contents on the floor. Ralph just stands around and looks at some crazy are Everett has on a mantle. Plague on other hand checks out Everett's private stash of booze.

"Oh hell yeah…" Plague says walking to the cabinets

Elizabeth picks up an accounting book that belonged to Everett. She scans through and finds large sums of money that was transferred out of Everett's private bank accounts.

"Mr. Litwak. I think I may have found something."

Josh looks over and walks to Elizabeth.

"What is it?"

"According to these, these are Mr. Everett's private bank accounts."

"Okay?"

"When did you find his body?"

Josh shrugs.

"A couple days ago."

"Before his death, he took out a large sum of money to different unknown corporations."

"What were the corporations?"

"There only labeled as 'Secret'."

Josh shakes his head.

"Oh great. This is just great. Another dead end."

Josh walks to Everett's desk and sits down in his chair and sighs hard.

"One good thing, that's all I'm asking."

Vanellope flatten out a sheet and sees a piece of paper that says 'Number of copies: 1000'.

"Hey Josh. Look at what I found."

Josh blinks and moves his hands.

"What?"

Vanellope walks over and hands the paper to Josh.

"I don't know. It looks interesting though."

Josh takes the paper and Josh sees it.

"'Number of copies: 1000'. Thousand copies of what though?"

Vanellope shrugs.

"I don't know. It probably wasn't car parts."

Josh rolls his eyes and looks at everyone still looking.

"Okay guys. Knock it off. There's probably nothing else."

Everyone stops and Plague pours herself a shot.

"Anyone want any?" Plague asks turning around

Everyone looks at Plague and Josh just blinks.

"Your drinking his booze now?"

"I don't think he would mind." Plague says taking a sip

"He's dead Plague?"

"That's why he won't mind."

As Plague takes a drink, Elizabeth points her finger at the glass and freezes the booze. Plague sees the liquor frozen solid.

"The hell?!', looks at Elizabeth and points, 'YOU."

"This is not the time now to be flimsy."

"I'll show you flimsy ice bitch."

Plague throws the glass at Elizabeth and she stops it with her ice powers.

"Don't throw anything at me. Please."

Plague grabs her axe.

"I've been told I have a talent for art. Want to see me carve some ice out of your fingers?"

"Let's see."

Josh stomps his foot.

"Enough!', the two look at Josh, 'This is getting annoying. Calhoun, Ralph."

Calhoun walks in front of Plague and she sees. Ralph guides Elizabeth away from the scene. Josh sighs in relief.

"Anymore of this I'll need a whistle. Does anyone have any ideas what to do now?"

"With the main guy dead, there's nothing here man." Plague says

Calhoun sighs.

"I hate to say it, but I agree Josh." Calhoun says

Josh sits back and laughs under his breath.

"Ha, ha…man if Everett was alive then I can find out what this all means. He had all the answers. If Cyrus didn't kill him I might get the information I need."

Elizabeth blinks and slowly shrugs.

"What if you could?"

Josh slowly turns his head and looks at Elizabeth. So does everyone else.

"What did you just say?" Josh asks

Elizabeth turns around and gulps.

"What if you could…ask him what you needed to know?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Ask who? David Everett?"

"Yes." Elizabeth says nodding

"Elizabeth. He's dead. He's not going to talk now much a days."

"But what if you could?"

Josh shrugs.

"Then, maybe I don't know."

"Where's his body?" Elizabeth asks

Josh spins his head around.

"I don't know. Maybe with the CDC. The morgue maybe."

"Then let's go there."

"Why?"

"To show you what I'm talking about."

Josh sighs and shrugs. He stands up.

"I did ask for any ideas. Come on guys."

As everyone walks to the door, they hear something coming from the floor below.

"Is someone here?" Plague asks

"We were the only ones who walked in." Felix states

"Plague, Calhoun. Come with me." Josh orders

Josh, Plague and Calhoun run down the steps as the other four follow slowly.

Ground Level…

As the three run around the corner. Josh nods his head grabbing his staff. Calhoun grabs her gun as Plague grabs her axe. Josh counts.

"Okay…one…two…three!"

The three run out getting ready to attack who's there. But suddenly a woman stands up and flinches.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm sorry, I'll leave! I'll leave!"

The three stop and see the woman. Josh narrows his eyes.

"Who, Who are you?"

The woman looks lost.

"Who am I? Who the hell are you, this place is closed off."

"Then what are you doing here?" Plague asks

"I'm here to get my check. What are any of you doing here?"

Josh crosses his arms.

"What's your name?"

The woman narrows her eyes.

"Anna."

"Okay Anna. It seems to me that neither of us are supposed to be here. You have your reasons, we have ours."

Anna slowly backs up.

"Let's just pretend we didn't see each other and go on with our lives, okay?"

Anna shrugs.

"Fine by me."

The three watch as Anna leaves.

"Anna.', Josh asks for as Anna turns around, 'Have any idea where your boss is?"

"My boss?"

"Everett."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because were looking for him." Calhoun states

"I don't know. He was taken out of here a couple days ago by the CDC."

"Do you know exactly where?" Josh asks with an annoying look on his face

"I was never told where they were taking him. Besides, from the way he was boxed up. I wouldn't want to go anywhere near him."

"Why's that?" Josh asks

"His body didn't look anywhere near normal."

Plague turns her head at Josh and he sees. Josh nods.

"I think I can imagine."

"Try the morgue or something. But good luck trying to get in."

"Why?" Calhoun asks

"I saw soldiers protecting that body. There are no visits where Everett went." Anna says walking out

The three look at each other as Anna leaves the Club. Josh whistles and everyone comes out.

"All right, we have an idea where Mr. Everett is."

"And where's that?" Elizabeth asks

"The morgue…protected by soldiers." Josh explains gulping

Josh turns to the door and everyone follows him out.

Across the street from the Morgue…

Across the street from the Morgue, Josh and everyone look over a graded wall and see military vehicles and soldiers guarding the morgue for the CDC. Plague nods and whistles.

"This place is well protected. And all for just one guy."

"We got to find a way in." Josh says looking around

"Why not use the front door?" Vanellope asks

"Vanellope. Look.', Josh says pointing, Vanellope sees several soldiers guarding the front door, 'We can't just waltz right in there without them opening fire on us."

"Well why not? Fire is my specialty." Plague says spinning her axe around

Josh looks firm at Plague.

"Plague…"

"Relax. They'll live to see another day."

Plague swooshes and Josh sees.

"Plague!"

Josh shakes his head hard and looks back across the street. The soldiers talk amongst themselves and everyone just watches. Plague suddenly swooshes back and appears between the men who look all shocked and confused.

"What is she doing?" Ralph asks

Josh shakes his head and Plague goes to battle. She fights off the soldiers forcing some to attack each other. Plague messes around with a few of them and charges one right into the wall. The four just watch shocked as Plague takes down the last one without breaking a sweat. She looks back across the street and waves.

"All clear!"

Josh rolls his eyes and everyone moves out.

"That's one way of getting in."

The group travels across the street and walk inside the Morgue.

The Morgue…

As the group enters the Morgue. Each of them look around the main office.

"Okay, look around for something telling where they put Everett's body."

Everyone looks around. Elizabeth walks to the desk and finds a list of bodies that have come in placing them in different rooms then each other. She looks further down and finds which room Everett's body is in.

"Found it."

Josh looks and so does everyone else.

"Really?"

"Yes. He was placed in room number nine."

"All right. Let's find room number nine."

Everyone walks into the hallway passing up different rooms for the different preparations for the deceased. Everyone looks and sees the same thing in each room, what Cyrus's virus does to a person at different stages. Elizabeth crosses her arms seeing how disgusting the process is for people to be turned into like that.

"Why would Cyrus do such a thing?"

Josh looks back.

"For Cyrus, he really doesn't need a reason to turn people into husks."

"He's right. Cyrus doesn't even need to blink to second guess himself to raise his army." Plague explains

"Army?" Calhoun asks

"Why do it yourself when you can just get someone else to do it against their will? That's Cyrus's plan. He needs an army to rule the world. Did it just like in the game."

Josh gulps.

"And the people we've been fighting…are my people…" Josh says with a blank look on his face

Everyone looks up at Josh leading them down the hallway. Josh rubs his eyes just thinking about the countless husks he's had to take down. They were once people but not anymore. Cyrus turned them into his husks. Josh sighs slowly.

"It's better to die then to be a husk I suppose."

As the group continue on, two soldiers down the hall walk around the corner and see the group.

"Hey!" Soldier yells

"Freeze!" Soldier orders

Everyone looks and Josh quickly reacts.

"Whoa!"

Josh throws both his hands at them and two lightning bolts shoot out and hit the soldiers. They fly and hit the wall behind them and pass out. Josh takes a deep breath and looks back.

"Not bad right?"

Plague smirks and pats Josh's back. Elizabeth narrows her eyes as the group walk around the corner. She spots the room Everett's in.

"Josh. The room."

Josh looks ahead and sees the room Everett's body is in.

"Room number nine right?"

"Yes."

"Let's say hello to Mr. Everett again."

Josh pushes the doors open and everyone follows in. As they go in, the room is pitched black.

"I can't see shit." Plague says

"Plague." Josh says

"It's true."

"Watch your language please. There's a child in our presence."

"And which one would that be exactly. There are a few."

Amongst the darkness, Elizabeth, Calhoun and Vanellope make a face. Josh continues to walk around not knowing where anything is.

"Someone find a light switch please."

Suddenly Ralph bumps into a table.

"Ow! Oh! Geez!"

"What's wrong Ralph?" Josh asks

"I hit something."

"Any progress people?" Josh asks

"Still nothing." Calhoun says

"There's got to be a light switch."

"Wait, I think I found it." Vanellope says

"Great. Hit it Vanellope."

Vanellope touches the button and the lights in the room turn on. Everyone turns and sees Everett's body in the center all wrapped up in plastic to keep it from 'spreading' its disease. Felix turns around and jumps.

"WHAO!"

Ralph catches him seeing Felix got scared of seeing Everett's body the way its positioned. Josh shakes his head.

"You okay Felix?"

"I'll be better once we get what we came for."

Josh sighs and walks closer to Everett's body.

"Mr. David Everett. I wonder what you were like when you were alive."

"This is Mr. Everett?" Elizabeth asks getting closer

Josh looks at Elizabeth seeing how disgusted Mr. Everett looks from the virus. He sighs slowly and points.

"Okay Elizabeth where here.', Elizabeth looks at Josh, 'What were you talking about back at the office? What did you mean if I could talk to him again?"

Elizabeth brushes some of her hair back.

"It's rather difficult to explain."

Plague walks alongside Elizabeth and bumps into her on purpose.

"Then explain slowly for us princess."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes hard at Plague and looks back at Josh.

"Remember when I talked about alternate worlds?"

"Yeah, decisions and such right?"

"Precisely. If Mr. Everett is dead in this world, then maybe he might be alive in another."

Everyone looks at each other wondering what Elizabeth is even talking about. Josh just blinks.

"So you're saying you can bring him back alive?"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"Not exactly those terms but along the lines."

Plague shakes her head.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up. I'm lost here. Your trying to me this chick can bring this dude back alive?"

Josh shrugs.

"In a way I saw what Elizabeth can do Plague…maybe."

Plague rolls her eyes.

"Never heard so much bull shit in my life."

"Hey!" Josh yells

"Then prove it! Come ice queen, bring the dead back to life."

Elizabeth sighs annoyingly.

"It only works if there's a rip."

"A rip? A rip of what?" Plague asks

Josh sighs slowly and waves his hands.

"Let's worry about 'how' and 'why' later. Elizabeth. Can you do it or not?"

Elizabeth looks around for a rip.

"I don't know. I don't see a rip."

Plague shakes her head.

"Well this is all pointless."

"Plague. Back off."

"No. This is so fricken stupid. This is a waste of time…"

As Plague continues to nag. Elizabeth looks and sees a rip appearing. She opens her eyes more and everyone else but Plague doesn't see.

"Josh." Elizabeth says

"I see it."

Without Plague knowing, the table Everett is on disappears and reappears before everyone's eyes.

"What…" Ralph says

"The…" Felix says

"Huh?" Vanellope asks

"Guys?" Calhoun says

Plague continues on.

"The bodies gone." Josh states

"In another world." Elizabeth explains

Josh looks at Plague and walks to her.

"I'm out of here if there's nothing…"

Josh spins Plague around and she sees the rip appearing and disappearing. Josh looks funny at Plague and she sees.

"Still proves nothing."

Josh sighs and shakes his head.

"Elizabeth. Can you open this rip into this other world?"

Elizabeth crosses her arms and holds them close to her stomach.

"I…I think I can but…there's a catch."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Of course there is. What is it?"

Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"Opening another world that's different to this one. I can open it…but I don't know if we can come back."

Josh blinks and Plague throws up her hands.

"Oh hell no! I'm not going world jumping so you can ask this dude one question. It's not worth the risk."

"There's got to be some way to get us back Elizabeth." Josh says

"There's no way I can tell which world we are in so we can come back to it. The number of possible worlds out there…are infinite."

Josh sighs slowly.

"So we have no way of returning if we go through."

"Yes."

"But, but…there's got to be something we can do so we can find the world we came from."

"What about a constant?" Felix asks

Everyone slowly looks at Felix.

"A what?" Plague asks

Felix sees he's the center of attention.

"Um, well, just, I was thinking', Felix takes off his hat, 'What if there was something from this world we can use to find and bring us back? Would that work Elizabeth?" Felix asks

Josh looks at Elizabeth and sees she's thinking about the idea.

"It…It might work. That's how we can go into this other world where Everett is alive."

"But what can we use?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks around and looks back at his staff. He pulls it out and holds it firmly.

"I think I might have something."

Everyone looks at Josh. He walks to the wall behind Everett's body and sticks his staff in the wall so it won't move. Josh then looks at Elizabeth.

"If this is here, then we can tell this is the world we came from? Right?"

Elizabeth thinks for a second and shrugs.

"It might work. I can't give an exact answer."

"So were basically screwed if you can't get us back, is that it?" Plague asks

Elizabeth looks hard at Plague.

"If you don't want to come, then stay here and stay out of our way."

Plague backs up seeing how serious Elizabeth is being. Elizabeth sighs slowly and Josh walks to her.

"Okay then. Elizabeth…open the rip I guess."

Elizabeth nods looking at the rip before her.

"Okay. Everyone. Get ready."

Josh stands firmly and Plague shrugs. She decides to go with them anyway. Vanellope grabs hold of Ralph and he holds her up on his shoulder. Felix fixes his hat nervously and Calhoun reassures him by patting him on his shoulder. He nods and looks back. Josh gulps as he watches Elizabeth focus to open the rip. Elizabeth grunts and struggles to open the rip even more.

"Hold on!" Elizabeth yells

A bright light shoots off and everyone looks. Elizabeth opens the rip and sends everyone into the different world. She breathes heavily and Josh looks around.

"Did it work?" Josh asks

"Look." Elizabeth says

Josh looks at the table where Mr. Everett is supposed to be but, there's no one there.

"The bodies gone."

"Where in a different world." Elizabeth explains

Plague shakes her head feeling a headache happening to her.

"What? That it? What a ride."

"I wonder how Mr. Everett now…if he's even alive. I just can't help but think how the world is different if he's alive."

"You'd be surprise how one small change affects the world Josh." Elizabeth explains

Josh looks around the room. It's exactly the same but there's no body of Mr. Everett. Josh sighs slowly and waves his hand.

"Let's head back to the Club and see if Everett is alive."

The group walks out of the room following Josh. Josh shakes his head in the not understanding how and now that Everett might be alive.

"I still don't see how Everett is alive now."

"Were in a world now that he was never killed by Cyrus."

"I doubt one man being alive is different and the world around him just…stays the same you know?" Plague says

Josh shrugs. As the group walks around the corner, Josh looks at the wall where the soldiers should be when he knocked them out.

"The soldiers are gone."

Everyone looks and notices too.

"Where did they go?" Ralph asks

Josh looks down the hallway and sees two men just standing around.

"Um, excuse me.', everyone looks, 'Did you see two soldiers lying here a second ago?"

The two men turn around and Josh flinches.

"What the?!"

The two men turn out to be Cyrus's husks. They look exactly like the soldiers Josh knocked out.

"Wait, aren't those?" Calhoun asks

"There the soldiers I knocked out. But they weren't husks when we last saw them."

"In this world they are." Elizabeth says

Josh looks at Elizabeth and back at the husks. They growl and run at the group.

"Hey!"

Josh fires a bolt at one of them and Plague does the same slicing the other in half. They fall apart and land on the ground. Josh and Plague look at each other and nod.

"Thanks." Josh says

Plague shrugs. Josh looks back down at the leftovers and sees on one of the soldiers faces…his nose is bleeding.

"Look at this."

Elizabeth looks closer.

"Is nose is bleeding."

"Plague, does this happen?"

Plague looks.

"Nah, when you turn there's nothing left of the body."

"Then why?" Josh asks

Elizabeth gulps.

"I think they remember."

Josh and Plague look at Elizabeth.

"Remember what?" Josh asks

"Remember being alive. In the world we previous came from."

Josh shakes his head and looks back at his friends.

"Let's just find Everett and get the hell out of here."

The four nod and the three move ahead to the exit of the Morgue.

Outside the Morgue…

As the group makes it outside, the world they just entered is completely different. Josh looks shocked.

"Oh my God…"

The sky is no longer blue. It's orange like _Cyrus the Virus_. Everyone looks around seeing the world is completely different then the world they just came from. There's people running around trying to run away from husks. There's chaos in the streets and people are screaming and yelling all over the place.

"What in the world…?" Josh asks

Plague looks down and bumps into Josh's shoulder.

"What?"

Plague points and Josh recognizes the soldiers Plague fought when they first got to the Morgue.

"You just fought those guys."

"I know."

"In the other world, they were human. Here, there husks." Elizabeth explains

Ralph rubs his head.

"This other worlds talk is giving me a headache."

"You're not the only one Ralph." Felix says

Josh sighs.

"Okay…let's just get to the Club. Find Everett. Get my answer and we can all go home. Agree?" Josh says walking ahead

(All at once)

"Agreed!"

Josh shrugs and moves on ahead. The group heads back to the Good Time Club. As the group walk down the street, Josh looks at the destruction and recognizes it from the game.

_I got a very bad feeling about this…_

Good Time Club…

As the group arrives at the Good Time Club, Josh looks up at it and sees it a little different.

"Huh."

"What?" Vanellope asks

"I don't know but…doesn't the club seem a bit…different?"

Everyone looks.

"Listen." Elizabeth says

Everyone looks at Elizabeth and back at the club.

"I don't hear anything." Calhoun says

"Exactly. There's no music." Plague states

"And there's no bubble wrap at the front doors." Ralph points out

"Let's find Everett and get out of here."

Everyone walks up and enters the Good Time Club.

Inside the Good Time Club…

As the group enters, the place has seen better days. It's completely trashed and nearly destroyed.

"Are we at the right place?" Plague asks putting her axe on her shoulder

Josh shrugs.

"This has to be the place. Come on, the office is over there."

As the group moves ahead, the staircase they used to get up to David's office is no longer there, now it's an elevator. Josh sighs and sees how much change has happened.

"An elevator? Really?" Josh asks

"Well let's go up then." Plague says

Josh, Plague and Elizabeth enter the elevator. Josh looks back at his friends.

"You guys wait here, watch out for any husks in case they come in."

"All right." Calhoun says

"Got it." Ralph says nodding

"Will be back a few."

Josh hits the button and the three go up. As the elevator goes up, Plague leans against the wall and sighs slowly. Elizabeth keeps to herself as Josh crosses his arms. He sighs slowly through his nose. Then suddenly the elevator stops.

"Whoa!', looks back, 'You two okay?"

"The elevator stopped." Elizabeth states

"Really Sherlock?" Plague asks

Elizabeth looks hard at Plague. Suddenly the phone in the elevator rings. Josh narrows his eyes and looks back at the two. He slowly reaches out and grabs it.

"Umm, hello?"

"Who's coming up to my office at this time?" David asks

Josh gulps.

"David? David Everett?"

"That's me, who's asking?"

Josh looks back at the two.

"It's David. He's…He's alive."

"Seriously?" Plague asks

"I knew it."

Josh sighs.

"Uh, Mr. Everett. You and I have the same… 'acquaintance'."

"And who would that be?"

"Cyrus. You know him?"

A moment goes by. Josh looks back at the two and finally David says something.

"Come right up."

The elevator starts again and Josh hangs up the phone.

"Were on the right track."

"What do you plan on asking him Mr. Litwak?" Elizabeth asks

"Just one thing: What Cyrus is planning on doing with the children."

"Isn't it obvious? He's turning them into husks." Plague says

Josh turns around.

"I know that. But something…is off. Doesn't it seem his virus is spreading faster than normally?"

"It only took a few weeks for him to consume the entire world." Plague explains

"That was in the game right?"

Plague nods. Josh sighs slowly.

"I need to know what Cyrus is planning. In this world we came into…it seems Cyrus has nearly everything under control."

The three wait and finally arrive at David's office. The three walk up and Josh looks around. Across form him David is pouring himself a drink and Josh sees.

"Mr. Everett?"

David puts his hand up and turns around.

"Yeah, yeah I heard you. Hold on I got another call."

David continues to talk on his phone plugged in his ear. The three walk further in and Josh narrows his eyes seeing how odd David's acting.

"Is it me or is he a bit… off?"

"Something ain't right here yo."

Elizabeth covers his mouth.

"Oh no…"

Josh and Plague look back at Elizabeth.

"What?"

"Look at his nose."

Josh and Plague look and see his nose is bleeding a bit.

"What is going on around here?" Josh asks

"Maybe…in a way…Mr. Everett remembers being dead."

"Dead?" Plague asks

"He his mind is scrambled with this world we went into. If he was alive he would be doing exactly what he's doing now. But since we came here from the rip, in the back of his mind he's remembering what happened to him."

"So that's why his nose is bleeding?"

"His mind is fighting between the different worlds he exists in." Elizabeth explains

Josh sighs.

"Enough with the quantum physics. David!"

"Hold on one second, I got an important call."

"Listen, I need to ask you something about Cyrus."

"Cyrus? I know that guy. He's a man with a plan. First day I met him."

Josh looks back at the two and back at David.

"You've met Cyrus?"

David nods with a smile.

"Yep, crazy son of a bitch too. Came this close from turning into one of his creatures. Thank God he let me go."

Josh nods and bites his lip.

"Anyway, if you don't mind, could I ask you a question about him?"

"Shoot kid." David says sitting down

"What are his plans?"

"Plans? What plans?"

Josh gets annoyed.

"He's planning something! You just said it!"

"Hold on one second. I got an important call. And could you speak up, the music down on the ground floor is very loud."

Josh narrows his eyes and walks back to the two.

"Okay, I'm getting really annoyed by this guy. If he doesn't answer my question soon, he's GOING to remember what it's like to be dead."

"Easy Josh. Just let him work out his call."

"You want to know what Cyrus is planning?', Josh and them look back, David looks at the three funny, 'I need you to do me a favor."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"A favor?"

"My computer was taken a couple of days ago by the feds. They have it and I need it back."

"Why?"

"Ask me another question boy and it will cost ya."

Josh sighs slowly and rubs his eyes.

"Are you asking us to get your computer back?"

David slams his hand on the table.

"Exactly boy! You get my computer back and I'll answer your questions."

Josh looks back at the two and shrugs.

"Where's your computer?"

"F.B.I. headquarters."

Josh shakes his head.

"What?! Why?!"

"I don't know. But it shouldn't be much of a problem. There probably all dead anyway."

"And how would you know that?" Plague asks

"Cyrus's virus got them probably. Nearly half the population is infected.', Josh looks back at the two and back at David, 'Your one of the lucky ones. Get my computer back and we have a deal."

Josh sighs.

"Fine. I get you your computer back and you'll answer my questions."

"Deal. Go on boy and girls before you end up like Cyrus's creatures. Bye!"

Josh shakes his head and the three board the elevator and go down. As the elevator goes down, the three wait to reach ground floor.

"Did you hear what he said? Half the population is infected with the virus."

"Sounds about right." Plague says

"How?"

"One touch and you're screwed. Basic reaction among people."

"Cyrus knows how to spread his virus."

"One touch from him personal and you're his puppet." Plague explains

"I know that." Josh says rubbing the back of his neck

Elizabeth looks and watches Josh rub his neck. The elevator stops and the three get up. The four see the three.

"Well what happened?" Calhoun asks

"We got to get a computer for David." Josh explains

"Why?" Vanellope asks

"He won't answer any questions until he gets his computer back."

"Where is it?" Ralph asks

"F.B.I. headquarters."

"Isn't that dangerous to go there? Especially for you Josh?" Felix asks

Josh shrugs and puts his hands up.

"I don't have much choice Felix. Let's go there, get back before I start to lose my frickin mind."

As the group moves ahead, a girl walks into the Club and everyone sees. Josh narrows his eyes and yells at her.

"Hey!', the girl turns, 'Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Anna, who the hell are you?"

Josh blinks seeing this 'Anna' from this world. She looks nothing like the Anna they just saw.

"You're not Anna."

"Uh, yeah I am, who's for you to say I'm not?"

"Because I just met…"

"Josh." Elizabeth says turning Josh

Josh sees Elizabeth turning him.

"What?"

"This 'is' Anna. In this world."

Josh looks back at the Anna from this world and shakes his head.

"Can we please just go?"

The group leaves and heads to the F.B.I. headquarters where David's computer is.

Several hours later…

Outside F.B.I. headquarters…

The group sees the F.B.I. headquarters in the distance. And also a lot of husks.

"Well, there it is. F.B.I. headquarters." Elizabeth says

Josh sighs and rubs his eyes.

"From all the husks around, we're going to have to break through an army to get in there."

"Where's the computer going to be even?" Plague asks

"Evidence most likely." Josh explains

"Any idea where that is?" Vanellope asks

"No clue."

"Will figure out where it is when we get in there." Calhoun says

Josh sighs.

"So we really doing this?', Josh looks at everyone, 'Just…run there, fight every husk that gets in our way to get to the computer?', no one says anything and Josh nods, 'Sounds about right."

"I'm ready." Ralph says

"Me too." Calhoun says

"I am too." Felix says

"Let's go." Vanellope says

Josh nods and looks at Elizabeth and Plague.

"You two coming?"

"I ain't staying in this world any longer." Plague says holding her axe

Josh nods and looks at Elizabeth. Elizabeth gulps and slowly nods.

"Let's go."

Josh sighs slowly.

"Okay…let's do it."

Josh walks out onto the street and everyone follows. As the group makes it down the street, some of the husks notice and turn. Josh and them see and get ready to fight.

"Let's do this!"

Josh fires a bolt at several husks. The other husks around see the action and get into the fight. Everyone uses their own tactics to dispatch the oncoming husks. Ralph pounds, Calhoun shoots, Plague slices and dices and sets them on fire. Elizabeth struggles but can't bring herself to fight the husks coming at her. Josh slides and takes down the husks around Elizabeth. He nods at Elizabeth and she looks away. Josh continues on. Felix and Vanellope on the other hand get around Ralph and Calhoun to take down the husks coming after them. The group gets closer and closer to the headquarters and Josh looks back. More and a lot more husks come into the battle and chase the group.

"There's to many of them! Inside quick!"

The group runs inside as the husks gather outside into big piles.

Inside F.B.I. Headquarters…

Josh, Calhoun and Ralph barricaded the door as the husks outside try to break in. They get whatever they can find and use it up against the door. The three back up.

"That's not going to hold them up for long." Calhoun says

"Let's just find that damn computer and get the hell out of here."

The three scatter around the building. Josh finds a direction post stating where different things are around the building.

"Evidence…Evidence…Evidence…', Josh looks around more and finds the arrow, 'Evidence! Guys this way!"

The group meets up with Josh at the end of the hallway. As the group run, the husks back at the main entrance break down the door and everyone sees. The husks chase after Josh and them.

"RUN!" Josh orders

The group runs down the hallway and down a flight of stairs. They come up to a sealed door and Ralph breaks it down.

"Quick! Get in!" Ralph yells waving his hand

Everyone gets in and they all look back. Ralph closes the door and tightens the handle so it won't break or even open. Josh nods.

"Nice."

Vanellope walks ahead and looks down through a window of the evidence inside the basement.

"Hey Josh! Look!"

Everyone walks to the windows and see the evidence that the F.B.I. got. Plague whistles.

"Quite a collection."

"Find that damn computer." Josh says walking down the steps

Everyone climbs down into the Evidence room and everyone looks around.

"Find anything yet?" Josh asks looking around

"There's shit everywhere!" Plague yells

"So…nothing?"

"Not yet!" Calhoun yells

Josh sighs. Elizabeth looks around and finds a computer strapped down with the words 'EVIDENCE' on it and looks closer. She finds a note stating its 'David Everett's'.

"Josh! Josh I found it!" Elizabeth yells

Everyone hears and rushes to Elizabeth.

"You found it?"

Elizabeth nods.

"It's Mr. Everett's computer."

Josh inspects it and remembers what it looked like when he first saw it.

"Yep, this is it. Let's get it back…"

Suddenly the door Ralph locked starts getting knocked on. THUMP after THUMP, the noise just gets louder and everyone looks up.

"Umm…can those things get in here?" Vanellope asks nervously

Josh walks closer looking up through the windows to the room just hearing the pounding. He looks back at the computer, sighing slowly and rubbing his head.

"Okay we did not think this through clearly enough. There's no way we can get out of here with all those husks out the door. We won't make it down the street." Josh explains

"What can we do then?" Felix asks

Josh rubs his head hard.

"This world is a nightmare! One bad thing after another….there's got to be a way out of it!"

Everyone looks away as Elizabeth continues to look at the computer. Suddenly, a rip appears and she notices.

"Guys, look!"

Everyone looks back. They all see the tear forming of the computer disappearing and reappearing in and out of the room.

"What's going on?" Ralph asks

"It looks like a rip. An alternate world where the computer's not in it."

"If the computer is not here then where would it be?" Felix asks

Everyone thinks for a moment and they all realize. They all point as well.

(All at once)

"Back at the club!"

"It has to be back at the Club! Where else would it be?" Josh asks

"So I guess where going inside that rip as well then, huh?" Plague asks

Josh shrugs.

"David has his computer, and that world…can't be as bad as this one. Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth gets a little nervous.

"I don't know Josh…if we go through this rip, there's no turning back."

"We just got to find my staff, remember? That's are world. Besides I'm sick of this one. Let's do it."

Elizabeth sighs slowly.

"Fine."

"Everyone get ready." Josh says

Everyone gets ready. Plague looks to the side and sees a samurai sword hooked up.

"Wait, hold up!" Plague says running towards it

Elizabeth stops and everyone looks. Plague drops her axe and picks up the sword. Josh shakes his head.

"What's it with you and sharp objects?"

Plague shrugs smiling.

"Slice and dice. Ya know?"

Josh shakes his head and looks at Elizabeth.

"Do it Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks at the rip and starts opening it. Josh gets ready clenching his fists. Elizabeth opens the rip and everyone enters the different world.

End of Chapter 17…

Preview of Chapter 18…

With the gang in a new world. It's just one surprise after another. The world they entered, Josh is literally a hero. And everyone loves him. Seeing the world as it is, Josh wonders if they should even leave. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 18 – First Choice Part 2 Finale


	18. Chapter 18 - First Choice Part 2 Finale

Chapter 18 – First Choice Part 2 Finale

F.B.I. Headquarters…

Basement…

The group looks around and they all see the basement completely different. Josh walks to where the computer once was and touches the spot where it would be sitting.

"It's gone." Josh says looking at his hand

"If it's not here, it might be back at the Club." Elizabeth states

Josh looks up back at the entrance of the Evidence Room and sees the door wide open.

"There's no husks trying to break into the room."

Everyone looks up and sees the door wide open.

"Where did they all go?" Calhoun asks

"Weren't they just trying to break in?" Ralph asks

Josh walks past everyone.

"Well there gone now. Let's go up top and see what kind of world where in now." Josh says climbing the stairs

As the group move up to the F.B.I. headquarters up top, Josh notices the change of scenery.

"Whoa…" Josh whispers

As the group walks down the hallway, everything around seems neat and organized instead of destroyed and decayed. The group notice how much things are better here than the previous world they just came from.

"Is it me, or does things seem…better?" Elizabeth asks

"There was an army of husks after us. Seems like Cyrus has less control." Josh explains

"Sounds like it. Cyrus had the last world. Maybe he's not here in this one." Plague states

"Let's just get to the Club and find David." Josh states

The group makes it to the set of double doors. Josh takes a deep breath and grabs the handle.

"Hello alternate world."

As Josh opens the door, bright light shines on everyone.

Outside…

Josh covers his eyes from the bright sunlight shining on him. Everyone else does the same and look around. This world the group is in now, is completely different from the previous world they came from.

"Now this…is completely shocking…" Josh says walking down the steps

The world the groups in, blue skies, people all around. There are armed patrols in some spots but they seem to be higher ranked then standard police officers ordered to walk around and patrol. Josh puts his hands to his sides and looks back at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, you didn't send us back home did ya?"

Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"I don't know. The world we entered is an alternate reality of different decisions." Elizabeth explains

"Same world. But different outcomes…" Josh says

"Yes."

Josh sighs and looks around. He looks down the street and moves ahead with everyone in tow. As the group make it down the street, suddenly armored trucks come speeding down and everyone takes notice.

"Check that out." Felix says pointing

Josh blinks and watches the scene. The trucks swerve and several heavily armed soldiers get out and block off the street.

"What's going on?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks closer and sees the soldiers getting out shock batons and beating husks getting dragged out onto the streets. Plague shakes her head.

"At least one thing hasn't changed…right?" Plague asks looking at Josh

Josh shakes his head. The group continues to watch and suddenly one of the husks break loose and attacks one of the soldiers. Everyone sees.

"There in trouble!" Calhoun says

Josh sighs and runs ahead. The group sees and Elizabeth yells.

"Josh wait!"

Josh hops over a parked car. The soldier crawls away and tries to shoot the husk walking at him. He grabs his shock pistol but it's out of energy. The soldier closes his eyes waiting his dismiss, but suddenly a powerful lightning bolt hits the husk and implants itself onto the truck. The soldier opens his eyes and sees what just happened. Josh walks past the soldier and he looks at Josh almost recognizing him.

"Wait a minute…you're…"

Josh puts his hand up.

"Hold that thought."

Josh walks into the center of the fight and the husks see Josh.

"You husks seem to be everywhere. If you're here, then that means Cyrus is here well right?', the husks growl and Josh shakes his head, 'Here it comes."

The husks charge at Josh and he attacks them with his lightning bolts. The soldiers around watch, amazed and shocked at the same time. Josh forms a knife bolt in his hand and holds it firmly. A husk growls hard at Josh and runs at him. Josh spins around and plants the knife bolt in the husks head. It falls to pieces and Josh sees the last husk left. It stands there like it's studying Josh. Josh narrows his eyes and spins around his knife bolt.

"Goodbye!"

Josh throws the bolt knife and it hits the husks chest. It falls to pieces and Josh claps his hands.

"Another good deed done so well."

Josh sighs slowly and the soldiers come out of there hiding places. He turns around seeing that there circling him. Josh throws his hands up and looks at the soldiers surrounding him.

"Really? Come on guys, I just saved your lives. Least you can do is repay me by not arresting me."

"You're White Lightning!" Soldier yells

Josh narrows his eyes seeing the other soldiers happy to see him for some reason.

"Huh? What did you just call me?"

"I can't believe it! We thought you were dead!" Soldier yells

Josh gulps.

"Would someone explain to me what's going on?"

The group finally comes to the scene.

"You're White Lightning! The savior of humanity!" Soldier yells

Josh shakes his head.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Come on men, let's report back and give word White Lightning is back." Soldier says getting in the trucks

Josh watches the soldiers leave. He continues to stand there lost and confused from what he just heard. The group makes it to Josh and Vanellope looks to the side and sees a strange looking poster.

"Hmm." Vanellope mumbles walking to it

Josh looks at everyone.

"Did you all hear that? 'White Lightning'? Who's that?"

"They seem to think you're him or something." Ralph says

"They didn't arrest you either." Calhoun states

"Yeah, I noticed that Calhoun. Something…seems really familiar about this place."

Vanellope takes off the poster off the wall and looks at it hard. She looks at Josh and runs back to him.

"Josh! Josh!"

Josh turns around and sees Vanellope running at him.

"What Vanellope?"

"Look at this poster."

"What's on it?"

"Take a look and see for yourself."

Josh takes the poster out of Vanellope's hand and stares at it.

"The hell is this?"

Everyone looks at the poster and sees a graphic art of Josh himself holding a lightning bolt in his hand, holding it up high to the sky of a lightning storm above him. Josh stands before an army like he's leading them into battle. Josh just looks…shocked.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"Look what is says above." Ralph says

Josh diverts his eyes up and the heading of the poster says

"'White Lightning will guide us ahead to defeat our enemy. White Lightning will shine the way'. The hell is going on?!"

Elizabeth steps forward.

"Josh…', Josh looks at Elizabeth before him, 'In this world…you're actually a hero."

Josh gulps.

"A hero? Seriously? That can't….oh…', Josh closes his eyes and slowly backs up, 'Some…Something's wrong."

Josh backs up for unknown reasons and everyone sees. Vanellope sees.

"Josh? Josh what's wrong?"

Josh shakes his head and drops the poster. He grabs his head and starts having memories of his world.

"I…I led a revolution…', Josh sniffs and grunts…, 'Ahh…against…Cyrus. People…came to me…"

Suddenly Josh's nose starts bleeding. Elizabeth takes notice and walks to him.

"Josh. Josh, can you hear me?"

"They…they followed me', Josh trips and falls on his butt, 'I…they fought for what I've done for them…"

Everyone circles around Josh. Elizabeth tries to help in her own way for Josh to concentrate.

"Josh, your nose is bleeding badly."

Josh blinks and finally opens his eyes. He touches his nose and sees the blood.

"Eliz…Elizabeth…what's…what's happening to me?" Josh asks trying to look at Elizabeth

"What are you thinking about right now?" Elizabeth asks kneeling down in front of Josh

Josh tries to think clearly seeing two different memories hit him at once.

"Its…Its so frickin hard to think…It's…It's like having two different memories of the same place…"

Elizabeth puts her hand on Josh's hand and he tries to look ahead of himself.

"Josh…what are we doing here?"

Josh struggles to think clearly. He tries to remember why there here.

"Were…here to', Josh struggles shutting his eyes really hard and gasping slowly, 'To find Everett at the club."

Elizabeth nods.

"That's right."

Josh breathes slowly and stands up.

"Let's go before I have another factory recall."

Everyone backs up and they all move ahead. As the group moves ahead, they take a look at the alternate world around them. Josh can't help but wonder why people here like him and not the world he lives in.

"I remembered leading an army against Cyrus…but why can't I remember how it started?"

"Your mind has its own way of processing the alternate reality. It can't remember everything. Only the important facts." Elizabeth explains

Josh sighs.

"Well that sucks. I would love to know how I convinced everyone that I'm not the bad guy."

"You must have done something to get everyone on your side." Plague states

Josh makes a face.

"Thanks Plague. I obviously know that. Alternate world or not, this change to the world suits me just fine."

Elizabeth turns her head at Josh.

"For your world Josh, you can change things', Josh looks back over at Elizabeth, 'And you can change it and even be part of it."

Josh shakes his head.

"Well I don't want to be part of it Elizabeth. I can't change the world. The world, my world, it will always stay the same."

"You managed to change it here."

"This doesn't count Elizabeth. Look, all I'm saying is, the world I live in, can't change by one person. And if that person is me. Everyone there…wants to arrest me."

Elizabeth blinks to Josh's explanation. The group continues on. As the group walks down the street, Josh notices in a nearby park a military control camp set up. Aiding civilians who have Cyrus's virus.

"Hey, check that out." Josh says pointing

Everyone looks across the street and sees the military camp. Josh slowly walks out.

"Do you see something, I don't." Plague says

Josh takes a step forward and closes his eyes. He starts to get a 'shocking' vibe.

_Wait…I see something…there are people who are infected by the virus…the children!_

Josh opens his eyes.

"The kids!" Josh yells

Josh runs across the street getting nearly hit by oncoming traffic. The group sees and chases after Josh.

Military Camp…

Josh enters the camp and looks around. He follows his senses trying to find those who have the virus in them. As Josh walks around the camp, several people, soldiers, and even doctors recognize Josh as the White Lightning they know. Josh begins to feel like he's being watched, as he looks back, he sees that he is.

"Geez…center of attention or what?"

Josh bumps into a soldier and he shakes his head.

"Watch it!" Soldier yells

"My bad."

The soldier looks and sees it was Josh.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! It was my fault, please forgive me Lighting!" Soldier says throwing his hands up and dropping his head

Josh puts his hands up shaking his head in a confused way.

"It's all right, let it go."

The soldier sighs in relief. All of a sudden his pistol falls out of his holster and shakes his head nervously.

"It's great to see you back White Lightning."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"'Back'?"

The soldier nods.

"Everyone thought you were dead."

Josh has his mouth open a bit and nods.

"Oh…well…I got better."

The soldier smiles.

"That's good. Bye White Lightning."

The soldier nods happily and runs off. Josh shakes his head.

"Josh. It's Josh.', Josh looks down and sees that the soldier dropped his gun, 'Hey! Hey!', picks up pistol, 'You dropped your gun! HEY!', shakes head, 'This is just strange…hmmm…', Josh stares at the pistol and sees something funny written on it, 'Huh?', Josh looks closer and sees the inscription, '50,000 volt shock pistol'? Seriously?', Josh sees the electricity from his hand going into the gun, he sees a small blue light on the side and sees that it's charging, 'No way.', the pistol gets fully charged and Josh nods, 'I think I'll hold onto this for a while."

Josh puts the gun behind his back and looks around.

"Now, those kids."

Josh walks ahead and up to a tent. Back behind him, the group walks around searching for Josh.

"Where the hell did he go?" Plague asks

"He's around here somewhere." Elizabeth says looking around

"You think frosty?"

"Stop calling me names."

"Or what? You'll throw us in another world? Oooh…I'm so scared."

Elizabeth gets a little upset and Calhoun gets in the middle.

"Hey, hey!', looks at both of them, 'Break it up! Knock it off. Let's find Josh and continue our mission."

The two look away hard from each other. Back with Josh, he opens a tent door and walks on in. As he walks in, he sees rows of children who have the virus in them. Some are in the earlier stages of the virus and some have moved onto the second stage. Some of them have blind folds on and aching in pain. Josh rubs his head and looks at all the sick kids.

"Even here too…" Josh says covering his mouth

One of the doctors inside the tent turns around and sees Josh just looking at all the kids.

"Excuse me, you can't be in here." Female Doctor says fixing her glasses

Josh finally snaps out of it.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just had to see for myself. I'll leave. Sorry."

The Female Doctor fixes her glasses and recognizes Josh.

"White Lightning!"

Josh flinches and stops. He looks annoyed.

"Josh. It's JOSH!" Josh yells turning around

The Female Doctor walks to Josh and examines him.

"I thought you were dead."

Josh shakes his head.

"That's what everyone is saying to me."

"Listen, we need your power to heal these kids. There sick and slowly becoming like husks."

Josh gulps.

"How do you know all this?"

The Female Doctor looks lost at Josh.

"You told us."

Josh blinks.

"'I' told you?"

"Yes, don't you remember?"

Josh shakes his head.

"I don't want another nose bleed. You need help you said…"

"Yes! Some of these kids are in the early stages, but some have moved on to the second stage. Thank God you're here, you can stop it."

The Female Doctor walks away and Josh follows her.

"What would you like me to do?"

The Female Doctor turns on a machine and some of the kids take notice. They recognize Josh and whisper amongst themselves stating that 'White Lightning' is there. Josh watches as the Female Doctor turns on the machine.

"Go ahead. Do your…'magic'."

Josh narrows his eyes at the machine and looks at the doctor.

"What do you want me to do with this machine?"

"Touch it. Your immunity of the virus will spread to the children on the beds the kids are on', Female Doctor claps, 'Okay kids, lie down and feel free of that damn virus."

Josh looks back and sees the kids getting in their beds. He sighs slowly and grabs the handles.

"Okay…"

Josh holds the handles firmly and suddenly electricity shoots out of his body and into the machine. The current from Josh's body shoots out and through cords to the kid's beds. The kids feel the jolt from their beds feeling the virus inside them slowly disappearing. Josh continues to hold the handles firmly shutting his eyes really hard. He grunts feeling the power slip out of him. The kids start getting better, outside the tent, everything that's electrical starts shorting out and the group takes notice.

"Everyone see that?" Elizabeth asks

"It's Josh." Vanellope says

"Yeah, but where?" Calhoun asks

Felix looks and sees something strange about a tent that's near them.

"There." Felix says pointing

Everyone looks and sees a bright light inside the tent. The Female Doctor sees that kids all healed and better. She taps Josh's shoulder and he stops.

"Good work Lightning."

Josh breathes slowly feeling the energy going back into him.

"Anything for the kids."

The kids jump off the bed and surround Josh. They 'hooray' him want to see him in person. Josh sees all the kids surrounding him like he's a God or something. He tries to get around them.

"Okay, okay. It was no problem. I just wanted to help that's all."

As Josh makes it to the entrance, Elizabeth and everyone come in.

"Josh?"

Josh turns around and sees everyone.

"Guys. Hey. What's up?"

Elizabeth crosses her arms as everyone else gets inside the tent. Josh sees the stares he's getting off of everyone.

"What?" Josh asks shrugging

"Why'd you run off huh? This isn't a vacation." Plague says

Josh shrugs.

"I know. But I got to heal these kids."

"Kids?" Elizabeth asks

Josh looks back and everyone sees all the children who had the virus in them are now cured.

"You…You cured all of them?" Elizabeth asks looking at all the kids

Josh nods and rubs the back of his head.

"I had that feeling someone was sick…I was right."

"Good job Josh." Vanellope says

Josh nods.

"Okay. I'm ready to leave now. Let's go."

As Josh tries to leave, some of the kids stop him and he looks back.

"Don't go yet Lightning!" Boy yells

"Yeah! Play one of your songs first!" Girl screams

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Songs?"

Josh looks back at everyone waiting for him to come along. He looks back at the kids and see their sad looks on their faces. Josh looks back at his friends.

"Just, one second." Josh says putting one finger up

The kids move back and Josh walks back and everyone watches. The kids guide Josh back to the machine and hand him a beat up electric guitar. Josh stares at it and sees that it's seen better days.

"Huh…okay…where can I plug it…', Josh smiles, 'Never mind."

The kids go back to their beds. Josh's friends walk up alongside the wall and Josh throws the guitar around his body. He sits down alongside a bed and thinks of a song he can sing.

"Okay…what can I sing?', Josh thinks for a moment and smirks, 'Oh yeah…that one will work."

Josh clears his throat and shoots a current into the guitar. It lights up and everyone watches, including Josh's friends. Josh feels the strings and starts playing the song.

**She's staring me down with those electric eyes,**

**No matter how hard I try,**

**I can't escape that gaze tonight,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**Oh,**

Josh shuts his eyes getting into the groove of the song. The kids listen with all ears and attention. Josh's friends hang back and see what Josh is really good at. Elizabeth just watches with a surprised look on her face seeing Josh sings very well.

**I'm hypnotized by the way she moves,**

**Baby girl please help me soothe,**

**Imma take you to the sun and the moon,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**Oh,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**Yeah,**

Josh gets up and walks around.

**And I've been catching myself thinking of it,**

**It was three in the morning,**

**Every day I chase after her,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**Catching myself thinking of it,**

**It was three in the morning,**

**Every day I chase after her,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**No, I can't catch lightning,**

**She'll make you believe anything she wants,**

**Make you think that you're the one,**

**She will keep you there,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**She's way up in the atmosphere,**

Josh smiles and looks at Elizabeth. She looks away and Josh looks back at the kids.

**And I've been catching myself thinking of it,**

**It was three in the morning,**

**Every day I chase after her,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**Catching myself thinking of it,**

**It was three in the morning,**

**Every day I chase after her,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**No, I can't catch lightning**

**Oh I can't catch lightning,**

**Yeah,**

**I can't catch lightning,**

Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun bob their heads seeing the kids are loving the song. Plague yawns just waiting to leave.

**She's staring me down with those electric eyes,**

**No matter how hard I try,**

**I can't escape that gaze tonight,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**That girl's up in the atmosphere,**

**That girls up in the atmosphere,**

**Oh,**

**She's way up in the atmosphere,**

Josh gets so excited that he starts shooting off small bolts around the room. The kids jump up and around like there trying to catch them.

**And I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for you,**

**Anticipating,**

**Chasing after things that you do,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**Waiting, waiting, waiting for you**

**Anticipating,**

**Chasing after things that you do,**

**But I can't catch lightning,**

**No, I can't catch lightning,**

**Oh yeah,**

**No I can't catch lightning,**

**Oh I can't catch lightning,**

**Oh no,**

**I can't catch lightning **

Josh finishes up the song and the kids applaud happily. Ralph, Vanellope, Calhoun and Felix clap for Josh as he takes off the guitar. Josh waves to the kids and walks to his friends.

"Now we can go."

The six look at Josh and they leave. Outside the tent, Elizabeth walks up alongside Josh.

"Didn't know you could do that."

Josh nods with a smirk.

"There's a lot of things you don't know what I can do."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes. She looks down and grabs her bandaged hand. Josh looks and sees Elizabeth holding her covered up hand. Elizabeth looks and sees Josh staring at her hand. She kind of smiles.

"If you want to ask me, just ask me."

Josh snaps out of it and looks ahead.

"Ask what?"

"My finger you're staring at."

Josh shuts his eyes and rubs his head.

"I'm, I'm sorry. Was I that obvious?"

"Yes. But it's all right. It's a mystery to me as well. I grew up wondering what happened to it. Tweety wasn't much help and Cyrus, well, he never spoke a word to me."

Josh makes a funny face.

"That, I don't know, that just sounds awful. I'm sorry."

"For what? I get to wear this cute bandage I made around my hand. So it's not that obvious to some people."

"I noticed it."

"That makes you the 'some' people."

The group exits the camp. Elizabeth looks down. As the group walks, they split up into smaller groups. Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope. Plague would rather walk by herself. And Josh and Elizabeth up front leading everyone.

"You must think of me as some kind of freak.', Elizabeth says, Josh looks over at Elizabeth and narrows his eyes, 'A girl who can bring dead people back to life. And her only acquaintance was with a giant, mechanical bird thing."

Elizabeth looks away disgusted. Josh shakes his head.

"No. I don't think that.', Elizabeth opens her eyes and looks at Josh, 'You've just been given a bad record.', Josh looks back at Calhoun, 'Calhoun has a bad backstory as well', Elizabeth turns her head and sees Calhoun, 'On her own wedding day her fiancé was killed by a Cy-Bug. He was eaten right in front of her eyes.', looks back at Elizabeth, 'So don't you think you're the only one with a bad history. You're not alone here Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sighs slowly and looks at Josh hard.

"I am not going back to Cyrus, no matter what."

Josh gulps.

"He won't stop until he finds you."

"Why? Why does he want me so badly?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know. But he's not getting you. Not on my watch."

Elizabeth looks and sees how serious Josh is about his statement. Elizabeth nods and the two look back up ahead. Josh looks around the world he's in. Here, he feels somewhat great about himself.

"I got to tell you Elizabeth, you sure know how to find the right worlds. Well, when you find the right ones I mean."

Elizabeth shrugs.

"I don't know if I brought us through to a world where you rose up against Cyrus or I just…created one."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"You can do that? Just create alternate worlds like that?"

Elizabeth looks at Josh.

"To tell you the truth Josh, I don't really know myself."

Josh sighs slowly.

"The Club is about a block away, let's find Everett and just go home."

"I'll, I'll try to get us back to your world Josh."

"I trust you Elizabeth', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'Just have some confidence in yourself and you'll be surprised how much you can do."

Elizabeth thinks about Josh's explanation and takes it into consideration.

Good Time Club…

The group arrives at the club. Josh looks around and everyone heads to where the stairs are but again, it's an elevator. Josh looks back at the four.

"Wait here, will be right back."

"Got it." Calhoun says

"Fine." Ralph says

"Josh, can't I come with you?" Vanellope asks walking ahead

Josh looks at Elizabeth and Plague and the two girls look down at Vanellope.

"Vanellope…" Josh says

"I won't do anything."

"That's right. You can't do anything either." Plague states

Vanellope looks hard at Plague.

"Get me in kart or car or whatever and I'll show you what I can do."

"Vanellope, we don't know what we're going to run into up there."

"This world is at your fingertips, it can't be that bad."

Josh sighs slowly and looks at the two. They don't say anything and Josh rubs his one eye.

"Fine, but stay behind if something happens."

Vanellope smiles.

"Sweet!"

Ralph, Felix and Calhoun stay behind. Josh and the three girls climb into the elevator and go up to David's office. As the four go up, the elevator doesn't stop from David's command.

"Huh…that's different." Josh says

"What?" Vanellope asks

"Last time we went up here we were stopped by David himself. Makes me wonder if he's even here."

"Or alive." Plague says

Josh turns and looks at Plague.

"Have faith."

Plague shrugs.

"There's no faith when it comes to Cyrus."

Josh sighs slowly.

"You got a point…"

The elevator rings and the doors open. The four walk out slowly.

"Vanellope, stay close to Elizabeth."

Vanellope does exactly what Josh wants. Josh and Plague move forward. Plague has out her sword while Josh reaches back for the pistol.

"Mr. Everett? You here?"

"Silence is never a good thing."

"You think…"

As the two pass the desk, Plague looks behind and sees two bodies on the floor.

"Josh."

Josh turns and sees the bodies.

"No…"

Josh walks forward and sees Everett's body on the floor. Plague puts her sword on her back.

"What did you just say just now? 'Have faith'?"

Josh turns around and looks at Plague hard. He looks back at the two bodies on the floor and just loses it.

"NO!', Vanellope and Elizabeth flinch, 'GOD!', Josh kicks the bar and jumps all over the place, 'DAMMIT! We're going around in circles here!"

Elizabeth puts up a hand trying to calm Josh down.

"Josh calm down."

Vanellope stays behind Elizabeth. Josh's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"No! I won't calm down! We're going around in circles! One world Everett's alive, and the next he's dead! This getting ridiculous! And I'm sick and tired of it."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"He's dead?" Elizabeth asks shockingly

Josh shakes his head.

"Unless he's pretending, he's doing a hell of a job!"

Elizabeth walks ahead and Plague sees. She sees the bodies and covers her mouth.

"No…No. No! This is not what's supposed to happen!"

Plague looks hard at Elizabeth.

"Then what was supposed to happen princess?', Elizabeth turns looking pissed at Plague, 'People die! It's a way of life!"

"Shut up!"

Elizabeth pushes Plague and she pulls out her sword. Josh sees and slides between the two.

"Hey, hey! Knock it off!', Josh yells pointing his gun at Plague, 'Sword away…NOW.', Plague blinks and puts the sword away, Josh also puts away his gun, 'Okay then.', looks at Elizabeth, 'Elizabeth this isn't your fault. Like you said, you just opened a doorway into another world. You had no way of knowing David would be dead here."

"How can you be so sure Josh?"

Plague rolls her eyes and walks away.

"Hey Josh, how can you be so sure?"

Elizabeth looks funny at Plague as she walks away. Josh narrows his eyes and guides Elizabeth's face back at him.

"I'm not sure but you didn't kill David."

Elizabeth shrugs and wipes her face.

"I don't know what I did…didn't I just bring us to a world where he was alive and then I brought us to another where he's dead? Did I just open the doorway or did I create it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't matter anymore. Let's just get to the morgue and find our way home. All right?"

Elizabeth doesn't say anything and Josh nudges her to the elevator. Plague checks out the girl and finds her I.D. card

"Yo Josh."

Josh sighs hard and looks back at Plague.

"What Plague?"

Josh sees Plague handing over a I.D. card. He grabs it and looks at it. Josh looks disappointed.

"Oh no…"

The girl on the floor next to David is Anna. The same looking Anna they saw from the original world they came from.

"It's her isn't it?" Plague asks

Josh puts the I.D. down.

"Let's go. We're getting out of here."

Everyone boards the elevator.

"Are we going home now Josh?"

"Yes Vanellope. It should be a walk in the park since this world knows me.', elevator goes down, 'Should be really…', suddenly the elevator stops, everyone looks at each other and Josh shuts his eyes, 'easy…"

Josh sighs and looks at everyone.

"No one panic. Probably just a blown fuse."

"Do you see me panicking?" Plague asks

Josh shrugs.

"Kind of hard. It's dark in here. Hold on. Let there be…', snaps thumb and creates a light off his hand which electricity shoots around up going over and over again, 'light."

As the four stand around waiting for the elevator to start again. Suddenly the phone rings inside. Everyone turns and stares at it. Josh narrows his eyes and looks at everyone. The three girls look at Josh and he makes a face.

"Oh I'll answer it. Let me please.', Josh turns around and slowly grabs the phone, the three watch as Josh puts the receiver to his ear, 'Uhhh…hello?"

"I watched you die Litwak." Cyrus says

Josh looks surprised and everyone waits for an answer.

"Cy-Cyrus?"

Everyone looks shocked and stare at Josh.

"Who else would it be you little shit." Cyrus says with a hard tone

Josh smiles.

"Cyrus, this is just a big misunderstanding. If you can just look the other way for the next hour, I'll be out of your hair within that time. Maybe even less."

"This world may be under your guidance, but let me tell you something that I've told another Josh that I've killed before', Josh gulps, 'There are more of me then there are of you and your people."

"Cyrus, let's not fight."

"We've been fighting since the day you chased me out of my game. And I brought war to you."

"Cyrus." Josh says firmly

"I killed you once before…I'll kill you again, White Lightning."

Cyrus hangs up. Josh looks at the phone and hangs it up too. The three girls wait to hear the news and Josh turns around slowly.

"Well? What did Cyrus say?" Plague asks

Josh gulps and grabs his gun.

"This is not a walk in the park no more."

The elevator doors open and the four get out. Ralph, Felix and Calhoun turn.

"Well? How'd it go?" Calhoun asks

Josh rushes past the three.

"We gotta move, now!"

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix look confused.

"What happened?" Ralph asks

"Cyrus is on his way!" Vanellope yells

"Cyrus? But how did he…?" Felix asks

"Move Felix!" Calhoun yells

The group runs out of the Club and back outside.

Right outside the Club…

As the group makes it outside, they run down the street. Elizabeth looks back and stops.

"Josh!"

Josh stops and slides around. So does everyone else.

"What!?"

Elizabeth points and Josh looks at what Elizabeth is pointing at. Josh sighs annoyingly.

"Really?"

In the distance, an army of husks come rushing down the street. Josh sighs slowly and walks ahead.

"Ralph, Calhoun, Plague. Front and center."

The three strand side by side of each other in a straight line. Josh looks left and right at everyone and nods.

"We do not let them pass this line, got it!?', everyone nods, Calhoun grabs her pistol, Ralph pounds his fists and Plague grabs her sword, Josh looks ahead and back at the other three, 'Do not come forward, stay back."

"But Josh, I think I can…" Elizabeth says

"No Elizabeth. Just stay and protect Felix and Vanellope."

Elizabeth sighs and looks down. Vanellope narrows her eyes seeing Elizabeth given that order. She looks back at Josh. Josh grabs his pistol and aims, one handed at the lead husk.

"In this world…I rule."

Josh fires a powerful shock blast and hits several husks around the lead husk Josh was aiming at. Everyone looks surprised and Josh turns the gun.

"Whoa! HELL YEAH! I love this gun!"

"Josh!" Calhoun yells shooting

Josh snaps out of it.

"Oh!"

Josh fires a round and shoots another round out of his other hand. The four kill off the husks coming at them. Ralph pounds each and every one of them the way he saw them on TV. The wrestling matches he saw.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!" Ralph yells slamming his fists into several husks

Plague slices and dices and narrows her eyes at Ralph.

"What did you say Armstrong?"

Ralph kicks a few husks away.

"I said, I'm gonna wreck it!"

"Wreck what?! You're punching and squashing them! There's no wrecking whatsoever!"

"It's my motto!"

"Dumb motto if you ask me!"

"Guys! Less talking more killing!" Josh yells

Josh spins around and pops a few rounds into the husk behind him.

"Yeah! You like that?!"

Suddenly a husk comes up behind Josh and takes him down.

"Calhoun!"

Calhoun sees and shoots the husk off Josh. She pulls him up and Josh nods. Josh looks and blinks at an oncoming husk.

"Behind you."

Calhoun turns and takes it down with one shot. Josh takes his pistol and sees about ten husks running at him. He walks past his pistol and gets a powerful charge going. The last of the husks are right in front of Josh. Calhoun, Ralph and Plague see and notice Josh will take care of it. Josh puts his hands together and pounds them hard into the ground. The lightning bolts shoot up out of the ground below the husks and that takes them out. Everyone sees what Josh just did and he rubs his fists from the impact he made on the ground.

"Ow…that kind of hurt."

Elizabeth walks away from Felix and Vanellope and Vanellope notices. She walks to Josh.

"Josh.', Josh turns around, 'That…That was amazing!"

Josh smirks and looks down. Elizabeth picks up Josh's pistol and hands it to him.

"Nice shooting."

Josh takes the gun.

"Nice shocking I prefer to call it."

Elizabeth smiles shaking her head. As everyone looks around at all the calmness. Suddenly one husk no one noticed walks up behind Vanellope. Vanellope or Felix don't notice and suddenly the husk grabs Vanellope and picks her up.

"AHHH! JOSH! RALPH!" Vanellope screams

Everyone turns around, especially Ralph and Josh. They see Vanellope taken hostage by one of Cyrus's husks.

"_**Anyone moves…the girl dies." **_ Cyrus says through the husk

Everyone stands their ground. Elizabeth sees and looks around.

"He's going to kill Vanellope isn't he?" Elizabeth asks

"Don't move Elizabeth." Josh says putting his hand up

"Josh we have to do something."

"We will. Just let me think." Josh says struggling to think clearly

Elizabeth looks and sees there are hiding spots behind some parked cars.

"Keep Cyrus distracted."

Josh shakes his head and looks at Elizabeth.

"Wait, what?"

"Just do it. Keep him busy." Elizabeth says moving away unnoticed

"What are you…', Josh looks ahead and walks past everyone, 'Take it easy Cyrus."

"_**One more step and you can say goodbye to your little friend…"**_

__Josh puts his hands up.

"Okay, okay. Just don't hurt Vanellope."

"_**Put down your weapons. ALL OF YOU!"**_

__Josh looks back at everyone.

"Do as he says! Now!"

Josh and Calhoun put down their guns. Ralph raises his hands. Plague puts down her sword and Felix puts down his hammer. Cyrus sees.

"_**Good. Now that there's a little order here…I want to know how you all got here."**_

"You're a smart guy Cyrus, you figure it out."

"_**I would…but it's kind of funny seeing you alive Josh. Especially here in this world."**_

"What can I say Cyrus, when I see a doorway and I just have to open it."

"_**Well your doorway is about to change the second I take the life out of this little friend of yours."**_

"You hurt her Cyrus, I will hunt you down in any world you're in and I'll break your neck."

"_**The thing about worlds Josh…there's a number of them out there. And they all end the same way. Especially for YOU."**_

__Josh narrows his eyes hard and clenches his fists. Electricity shoots out of his hands and Cyrus sees.

"Let her go Cyrus."

"_**Or what?"**_

__Josh points his hand at Cyrus and he reacts.

"_**Say goodbye little girl!"**_

"NO!" Ralph yells

Josh gets ready to fire a lightning bolt but suddenly as Cyrus makes the husk strike Vanellope, he suddenly stops. Josh and everyone sees.

"Huh?" Josh asks

Cyrus's husk lets go of Vanellope and she runs. Josh helps her and she gets behind Josh. He picks up his gun and aims it at the husk, but Josh doesn't fire seeing the husk is slowly…freezing.

"What the?"

Everyone looks. The husk turns around and everyone sees Elizabeth shooting her ice powers at the husk freezing it to death. Cyrus sees Elizabeth through the eyes of the husk and points.

"_**You…', Elizabeth blinks shaking her hand she's using to freeze the husk, 'IT WAS YOU!"**_

__Cyrus makes the husk move forward and Elizabeth fires back.

"Stop!"

Elizabeth fires over and over again her ice abilities at the husk. It continues to crawl and freeze to death finally staying frozen still. Elizabeth breathes heavily seeing what she's done for the first time. She looks at her hands and Josh sees the look on her face. Elizabeth stares with a frighten look on her face seeing what she's done. Josh looks back at everyone and nods. They pick up their weapons and Josh approaches Elizabeth slowly.

"Elizabeth?', Josh asks reaching out his hands towards her, she doesn't respond, her eyes just stare at the frozen husk, 'Elizabeth.', Elizabeth finally makes eye contact with Josh, 'It's okay. Vanellope's safe now. It's over."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"It's, It's not over. It's not', Elizabeth starts crying, 'It's never going to be over."

"Hey, hey now. Shhh."

Josh slowly grabs Elizabeth and puts her head under his chin. Elizabeth continues to cry as Vanellope just watches. Ralph comes up behind her and kneels down next to her.

"Kid, you alright?"

Vanellope looks down and nods.

"Yeah Ralph. I'm fine."

Back with Josh and Elizabeth, Josh pats the back of Elizabeth's head trying to comfort her.

"Shhh, shhh, its okay. I've been in that spot before."

Elizabeth sniffs and finally opens her eyes on Josh's chest.

"How do you do it?"

Josh looks down.

"Do what?"

"Forget…How do you let go of what you've done knowing you've done something…so…wrong?"

Josh sighs slowly and backs up. Elizabeth looks up at Josh with tearful eyes and Josh wipes them away.

"You don't Elizabeth. You just learn to live with it. Like I have…"

Elizabeth sniffs and wipes her eyes.

"That's it?"

Josh nods.

"That's it.', Josh turns around and looks at everyone, 'Let's go before Cyrus sends another ambush at us."

Everyone nods. Josh walks ahead with Elizabeth sticking really close to him on their way back to the Morgue. Vanellope takes notice how close Elizabeth is next to Josh.

The Morgue…

Everyone stands in the room where it all started. Elizabeth walks ahead and looks back at Josh. Josh nods.

"Go ahead Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sighs and throws her hands forward.

"Remember, my staff is in the wall. That's what we're looking for."

"This shit better work." Plague says

Josh looks funny at Plague telling her with his eyes to be quiet. Now's not the time to be putting down Elizabeth. Elizabeth grunts and moans as she opens a rip. Josh covers his eyes from the brightness and sees the alternate wall before him. His staff isn't in that one.

"No. Wrong world Elizabeth. Try again."

Elizabeth closes the rip and sighs hard. She takes a deep breath and tries again. This time, the rip Elizabeth is trying to open closes and opens several times. This rip is very unstable and everyone moves back.

"Elizabeth, what's going on?" Josh asks

"The rip is unstable! I can't get it open!"

"Is it the right one?"

"I don't know!"

Josh looks and when the rip opens big enough, Josh spots his staff in the wall. He flinches seeing it's his world.

"That's it! Open it Elizabeth!"

"I'm trying!"

Elizabeth uses all her strength to open the rip more. Josh sees her struggling and approaches the rip.

"Climb through it! Come on!"

Everyone sees and does what Josh does. They climb through the rip as it gets bigger and smaller. Elizabeth sees she's the last one and Josh throws his hand out to pull her in.

"Come on!"

Elizabeth sees Josh's hand and sees the rip getting smaller.

"NOW ELIZABETH!"

Elizabeth grabs Josh's hand and pulls her through the rip just as it closes behind her.

Josh's World…

The First Morgue…

Everyone sees that there back in the original world they came from. Josh sighs in relief and looks around.

"Are, Are we back?" Felix asks

Josh looks and sees David's mutated body on the table.

"Hi David. Nice to see you too like this. Wouldn't be the first time either." Josh says waving

Felix turns and jumps seeing David's mutated corpse. Josh turns around and sees his staff in the wall where he placed it. He pulls it out of the wall and feels the electricity in his body shoot right into it. Everyone looks at Josh as he puts the staff on his back. Josh sighs slowly and looks at everyone.

"Home sweet home…"

Josh walks past everyone and they follow.

Several hours later…

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone gets off the elevator. Josh walks to the fridge and pulls out a Root Beer. Plague jumps on the contour and takes off her sword.

"Never thought I be happy to see this shit hole…"

Josh turns around and puts the cold glass on Plague's bare shoulder.

"Oh!"

Plague turns around with fire in her eyes. Josh hands her a Root Beer.

"Root Beer?"

Plague narrows her eyes and takes it. Calhoun and Felix walk to the couch and sit down together, relaxing. Ralph sits down on his butt and checks out Vanellope.

"You didn't get infected or anything did ya kid?"

Vanellope shakes her head seeing Josh approaching Elizabeth.

"No. I didn't Ralph."

Josh hands Elizabeth a Root Beer and she sees it. Elizabeth brushes some of her hair back behind her ear and looks at Josh.

"Don't worry, its already cold."

Elizabeth sort of smiles but shakes her head.

"No thank you Josh."

Josh nods and puts it back in the fridge. Elizabeth sighs slowly and Josh takes a sip of his Root Beer.

"E.D.I.?"

E.D.I. pops up on the TV.

"Yes Josh?"

"Am I still wanted by the police and F.B.I.?"

"Yes you are. Why do you ask?"

Josh smiles and shrugs.

"No reason. Just glad to be back home.', a moment passes by and Josh realizes something, 'E.D.I. what time is it?"

"Its 11:59."

Everyone looks up at the TV. Josh gulps.

"11:59? Isn't Cyrus supposed to call now or…"

"Josh. I have a call from Cyrus. Should I put it through?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Well that answers that question. Put him through E.D.I."

"As you wish Josh."

E.D.I. puts Cyrus through and everyone sees him on screen.

"Heeey everyone! How was your day?"

No one says anything. Josh just looks hard and Cyrus notices.

"Not so well huh?"

"Let's just say Cyrus that it wasn't a beautiful day."

"That's a shame. Anyway, it's been twenty four hours Josh. What are you going to do?"

Elizabeth gulps and looks at the back of Josh's head. Josh stands there for a second and plays dumb.

"What deal did you give me Cyrus? After today, I'm just as confused as hell."

Cyrus gets annoyed but hides it.

"Give me the girl and I'll leave you alone."

Josh nods and points.

"Ah that's right. Give you Elizabeth and you'll leave me alone."

Cyrus nods.

"That's right."

"Huh…', Josh turns around and looks at Elizabeth, he waves his hand, 'Elizabeth come over here. Come here."

Elizabeth blinks and walks slowly to Josh. She stands right next to him and Josh looks back at Cyrus.

"Why do you want her Cyrus? You tell me what you're going to do with her and she's yours."

Elizabeth spins her head at Josh from hearing him say that. Cyrus narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

"That's not the deal Josh."

Josh smiles.

"Knew you were going to say that Cyrus. But this is part of the deal. You're not getting her.', everyone looks at Josh, especially Elizabeth, 'You will never have her. You will never get her. You will NEVER, use her again.', Elizabeth smiles, Josh crosses his arms, 'And the only way you'll ever get her, is over my infected body."

Everyone looks at Josh for another second and look back at the screen. Cyrus just stares at the screen and blinks annoyingly. He sighs slowly and hides his face behind his hands.

"Are you sure you want to do this Josh?"

Josh smirks.

"You bet I do Cyrus."

Cyrus sighs and stands up.

"So be it."

Cyrus walks out of the camera view and everyone watches. Josh crosses his arms.

"Hey Cyrus. Hey, you uhh, left the camera on. Cyrus. CYRUS! What an idiot."

Suddenly muffled screaming is heard. Everyone looks at the TV and Josh narrows his eyes.

"What the hell was that?"

The camera changes positions and zooms on a girl tied up to a chair with a piece of duct tape over her mouth. Everyone flinches recognizing her from the Club. It's…

"Anna?!" Josh yells

Cyrus walks behind Anna laughing.

"Oh you know her too huh? Yeah, it would seem my friend David couldn't keep his mouth shut. Poor little Anna here now has to turn."

"Cyrus. Don't. She has nothing to do with this." Josh says walking around the couch

Cyrus looks hard at the screen.

"She has everything to do with this! Couldn't just leave anything alone, you had to poke your noise around! How is David by the way? You see Josh, I can infect someone so hard that there's a line that I can't cross. If I infect them too much, well, there no use to me. Just a dead blob of my virus waiting to grow on anything it gets attached to."

Josh looks serious at Cyrus.

"You son of a bitch…"

"I'm done playing games. You have five seconds, you hand over Elizabeth', Cyrus puts his hand under Anna's chin, she cries and Josh bites his lip, 'And Anna here can walk away."

"Cyrus!" Josh yells

"One."

"Don't! Anna listen to me!" Josh says grabbing the TV

"Two."

"Anna listen to me, everything is going to be all right! Everything is going to be all right!"

Elizabeth covers her mouth seeing the trick Cyrus is playing against Josh.

"CYRUS!"

"Three!"

"GOD DAMMIT LET HER GO!"

"FOUR!"

Everyone stands up seeing Josh pleading with Cyrus to let Anna go.

"CYRUS! DON'T!"

"FIVE!"

"NOOOO!"

Cyrus infects Anna hard and she shows the signs of her transformation. Everyone watches in horror and Josh just has a lost look on his face. Plague watches knowing the transformation. She looks the other way. Josh just watches as Anna gets turned into a husk, ripped skin, orange eyes, no brains of what she's become, just another husk Cyrus has turned her into. Josh backs up looking straight at Anna. Cyrus lets go of Anna and points the camera right at himself.

"The choices you make don't just effect you, it effects others', Josh just blinks and slowly looks at Cyrus's orange eyes, 'Remember that Josh. Because next time, it will be someone close to you."

Cyrus hangs up and everyone looks at Josh. Josh just stands there silent not even moving. Elizabeth gulps wondering the decision Josh made was the right one. Because of her. Josh sniffs and turns around, he walks around the couch. Everyone stares at him as Josh passes Elizabeth.

"Josh."

Josh stops a few feet ahead of Elizabeth. He gulps and Elizabeth waits for an answer.

"Welcome to the team Elizabeth."

Josh walks ahead and boards the elevator. Plague diverts her eyes up and looks back down. Josh shuts the elevator door and goes down. Calhoun looks at everyone and sees them stunned. She gets up and walks to the elevator.

"Everyone get some rest. I'll be right back."

Calhoun walks to the elevator and Elizabeth sees. Elizabeth walks over towards her.

"Miss Calhoun?', Calhoun turns around, 'Should I go instead?"

Calhoun shakes her head.

"No. I know him better. Let me go."

Elizabeth nods. Calhoun looks back at the elevator and Elizabeth looks back up.

"Was that my fault?"

Calhoun doesn't look back and Elizabeth waits for an answer.

"Just remember what he did for you. That's all you can do for him."

Elizabeth nods.

"Okay…"

Calhoun waits for the elevator to go down into the Factory.

Inside the Factory…

Josh leans up against the railing on the upper platform. He puts his hand to his face thinking about what just happened and today. Calhoun walks up the steps and sees Josh leaning against the railing thinking hard. She walks to him and Josh doesn't even move. Calhoun stands right next to him.

"What's next?"

It takes a second for Josh to respond. Calhoun turns and waits patiently. Josh sighs and looks out at the Factory ahead.

"Tomorrow…I think we should start cleaning out the Factory a bit."

Calhoun narrows her eyes seeing everything before her.

"Cleaning out?"

Josh shrugs.

"It's not much of any use to us. We need the room to train and practice and stuff."

Calhoun nods in understanding.

"Sounds like a plan."

Josh sighs slowly.

"For now it is."

"Josh?', Josh turns his head at Calhoun and sees the look she's giving him, 'Elizabeth better be worth it."

Josh blinks for a second and nods.

"She is Calhoun."

Calhoun nods and walks away. Josh looks back out at the Factory machines and looks back down.

End of Chapter 18…

Preview of Chapter 19…

Getting a better handling working as a team, the group comes across a new threat. Besides Cyrus leaving the game, there were five others that left with him too. And the first one is to strike out against Josh and everyone. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 19 – First of The Five: TK


	19. Chapter 19 - First of The Five: TK

(One review… '1'? Was the chapter that bad? Okay, well, it is what it is. Can't change anything about it now. Enjoy)

Chapter 19 – First of The Five: TK

Cyrus's Secret Hideout…

Cyrus sits in a pitch dark room with a single lit light on above him. He sits back in his leather chair staring hard at a computer monitor. On the monitor, he sees camera footage of inside several different hospitals, watching the children who are going through with Cyrus's virus. Only getting sicker but at a very slow rate. Cyrus sighs slowly through his nose showing his patience is at the limit.

"This is so BORING.', sighs and gets up, 'How much longer should it take for these brats to fully turn? Direct touch, right away, by something else…this takes too LONG.', leans against desk, 'There's got to be some faster way…"

Cyrus looks at the monitor and blinks. He looks closer and sees the children are being pulled out on their beds and brought outside for transport.

"What's this?" Cyrus asks sitting down

This gets Cyrus's attention. He watches as the children are placed on a bus being moved to a different hospital for extensive care for what's happening to them.

"Being transported huh?" Cyrus asks with a smile

Cyrus watches as more and more kids are put on a medical bus and drives out. Cyrus touches the screen and 'connects' himself to the net, looking for TK. A direct line appears and the two villains talk.

"TK."

"What the hell you want Cyrus? I'm enjoying a good show."

"Knock off the fun, play times over."

"What do you want?"

"I…I need a little help."

"Did I hear this right, the great powerful Cyrus the Virus needs help?"

"You're the only one I know who can do…things with your mind."

"Damn right you know what I can do…what do you need?"

Cyrus begins to smile in an evil way.

"I need you to…'move' a certain bus for me…"

Josh's Home…

The Factory…

Vanellope puts the pick-up in reverse and moves a conveyer belt out of the floor. Since this morning, the team has been cleaning up the Factory floor a bit, moving out the old machines and shipping crates. Plague cuts up the machines to make them more easier to move. Ralph picks up the heavier machines and throws them out back. Elizabeth blows heavy wind to push the dust out. Josh directs Vanellope in the truck to move out the belts of the Factory.

"More. More. Back more Vanellope.', Josh says waving his hand, Vanellope sees and Josh makes a fist, 'There!"

Outside on the dock, Josh hops in the back of the bed and pushes off all the machines. They crash on the ground and Josh taps the roof of the pick-up.

"Go ahead."

Vanellope puts the truck in Drive and drives back inside the Factory. Josh hops off the bed and walks up alongside the driver's door. Vanellope turns and sees Josh.

"Nice work Vanellope. You're really helpful when it comes to cleaning."

Vanellope blinks and gets a little happy.

"Really?"

Josh nods.

"Of course. I put you in anything with four wheels, your more useful then Ralph himself."

"He can't drive."

"I know that. I'm only using his brawn."

"Then what are you using from me?"

Josh smiles and rubs Vanellope's head.

"Your brain of course."

Vanellope throws her head back laughing. Josh spins around and sees Plague walking towards him.

"How's your back feeling Josh?" Plague asks stopping

Josh blinks and feels his back.

"My backs fine, why do you ask?"

"Because I can see all the extra help you're getting cleaning out this shit hole."

Josh smiles funny.

"Well just like you said Plague, I have everyone else doing all the heavy lifting."

"Ha, ha." Plague says pretending to laugh

Ralph and Elizabeth walk by. Josh looks around and realizes something.

"Wait, where's Felix and Calhoun?" Josh asks looking around

Everyone notices Felix and Calhoun aren't helping out. Plague turns around and looks up where the Manager's Office is.

"I saw those two go into the Manager's Office last night." Plague says looking up

Josh narrows his eyes and looks up where the Manager's Office is.

"The Manager's Office? They've been in there all night?"

Elizabeth crosses her arms and walks alongside of Josh.

"What could they have done in there all night?"

Josh and Plague turn their heads at Elizabeth and look back at each other. Plague walks ahead and yells.

"YO FELIX! CALHOUN! You still alive in there?!"

Everyone waits for a response. Suddenly one of the doors open and Felix walks out.

"Uh, morning everyone!"

Josh and everyone looks closer and sees Felix's outfit all messed up. There's only one possible thing those two could have done. Josh smiles and shakes his head.

"Felix…you hound…" Josh says

Everyone smiles and laughs. Plague crosses her arms smirking.

"You 'coming' any time soon?"

Felix grabs his ear.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Josh laughs and Elizabeth covers her mouth. Plague yells back up again smirking.

"Are you 'coming' any time soon?"

Felix narrows his eyes and looks back in the Manager's Office. Calhoun finally gets up, her hair all messed up and Plague waves her hand.

"Come on, we need more manual labor down here. Put your hammer back in your pants and give us a hand."

Felix narrows his eyes and walks back into the Manager's Office seeing Calhoun getting up. Calhoun sighs slowly.

"I really hate that girl."

Back on the ground floor, Josh looks around and sees the wide open space they have now compared to the junk that was laying around collecting dust.

"This wasn't a bad idea at all." Josh says looking around

Vanellope gets out of the pick-up and walks up to Josh.

"I still don't know why we had to clean up."

Josh smirks and looks down.

"Now we have the room to practice and warm up for upcoming battles."

"It's a good idea.', Plague says and everyone looks at her, she takes out her sword and spins it around, 'Show you fools who's the most dangerous person here."

"We already know that. You don't have to remind us." Elizabeth states

Josh looks the other way and pulls Ralph and Vanellope back. Plague and Elizabeth stand apart from each other. Plague looks funny at Elizabeth.

"Well we already know who the most unstable person here is, so you don't have to remind us."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes at Plague.

"I didn't. I was talking about you."

Plague gets pissed, her sword starts to glow the red aura. Elizabeth's hands turn frosty. Plague sees.

"Remember frost bite, ice melts when extreme heat comes into contact with it."

"Good acknowledgement. But it's kind of hard for extreme heat to get hot when below zero temperatures stop the heat from rising."

"Let's see and find out."

"Let's."

Plague and Elizabeth get close. Josh sighs and walks away. He looks down at himself and sees that he's a little dirty.

"I need a bath."

Just as Plague and Elizabeth are about to battle, Plague notices Josh walking away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Elizabeth looks back and sees Josh walking away. Josh stops and turns around.

"Oh don't mind me. You two can fight each other until you program overloud', the two look at each other and back at Josh, 'That's what this place is going to be used for. There's no one around, it's safe. You two can knock each other out as much as you want. I'm going back upstairs, taking a bird bath and making breakfast. Ralph? Vanellope? Care to join me."

Ralph and Vanellope look at each other and nod. They rush to Josh as the two girls look at each other. It's an awkward moment of silence. Plague shakes her head and puts her sword away.

"Another day little girl."

Elizabeth's hands turn back to normal and watches Plague walk away. She shakes her head and goes on.

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone eats something. The elevator suddenly moves and Calhoun throws up the doors. Everyone sees Felix and Calhoun walking in.

"Morning everyone." Felix says

"Felix." Ralph says

"Hey Calhoun." Vanellope says

Calhoun nods. Plague licks her fingers and looks funny at Calhoun.

"Enjoy the night?"

Calhoun slowly turns and looks funny at Plague.

"That's none of your business." Calhoun says with a firm face

Plague raises her hands like she's backing up.

"Easy, it was a simple question. No need to get all bent out of shape."

Calhoun nods and walks to the couch. Plague then looks at Felix.

"So how was it for you Felix?"

Calhoun flinches her shoulders and Felix just fixes his hat.

"It was very…comforting."

Plague smiles nodding her head. Calhoun takes a deep breath as Felix looks around.

"Where's Josh?"

Vanellope points.

"In the bathroom. Taking a bath."

"A bath?" Calhoun asks

"OOOW!"

Suddenly the room everyone is in, anything electronic shorts and sputters. Everyone sees and they look at each other.

"What was that?" Calhoun asks

"Josh." Plague says

Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"Water and electricity don't mix well together." Ralph explains

Calhoun blinks to that understanding. Inside the bathroom, Josh wets a wash rag and carefully grabs it.

"Careful…careful…"

Josh grabs it and soaks it out. As the water drips, some of the electricity in him shoots out.

"AH!', Josh takes a deep breath, 'Easy…"

Josh puts the wash rag against his chest and carefully dabs himself with it. He shakes his head.

"Just because I have electricity in me isn't going to stop me from smelling like a bum."

Josh carefully cleans his body and opens his eyes. As Josh cleans himself, he looks at his chest and stomach areas and notice the scars on his body are slowly fading away. Josh narrows his eyes and sees the scars.

"Huh…"

_Last time I saw myself…there were those scars and marks all around me when I was infected by the virus…now…they seem to be fading away…why? Doesn't matter…as long as there going away…_

Josh grabs a dry towel and wipes off the wet marks around his body. He takes a deep breath and shrugs.

"Didn't think taking a bird bath would be so difficult."

Josh looks out the bathroom door and sees everyone still eating. He looks at his bedroom door and quickly slides in without anyone noticing. Back in the Living Room, everyone continues to eat while Calhoun and Felix join. Suddenly E.D.I. appears on screen.

"Excuse me everyone. I apologize for interrupting your breakfast."

Calhoun turns around.

"What is it E.D.I.?"

"I have found something that might peek everyone's interest."

"What is it?" Felix asks

"Josh might want to know this. May I ask one of you to get him? I'm afraid my mobility is limited."

Elizabeth sets down her bowl.

"I'll get him." Elizabeth says walking to Josh's room

Everyone waits for Elizabeth to bring back Josh. Inside Josh's room, he slides on his pants and stares at his bed with a blank stare. His clothes are neatly organized. Next is his shirt and leather coat. For his coat he's picked a mix of black and white. Josh reaches over and grabs his white T-Shirt and almost puts it on. Suddenly Elizabeth knocks on the door and Josh looks.

"Josh? May I come in?" Elizabeth says opening the door

Josh narrows his eyes and Elizabeth sees Josh getting dressed.

"Oh!', Josh looks the other way just lost with a confused look on his face, 'I didn't know you were...', keeps looking away, 'Getting dressed."

Josh shrugs and looks back at Elizabeth.

"Well I did give you permission to come in didn't I?"

Elizabeth realizes Josh didn't say anything about letting her in. She shakes her head, keeping her hand on her face trying not to look at Josh's half naked body.

"I'm, I'm sorry. I should have waited. Please continue."

Josh sighs slowly and sees Elizabeth is still standing there. He whistles and Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Josh?"

"Elizabeth." Josh says with a straight face

"Yes?"

"No offense can I have some privacy please?', Elizabeth blinks and still looks away, 'You do in fact emit zero degree temperatures and I'm slowly feeling it."

Elizabeth realizes and quickly gets out of there.

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. Excuse me, excuse me!" Elizabeth says shutting the door

Josh shakes his head and smiles. He puts on his shirt and slides on his coat.

"Women."

Josh slides on his shoes. Outside Josh's room, Elizabeth waits patiently reflecting on what she just did. Suddenly Josh opens the door and Elizabeth sees.

"Again, I'm sorry Josh."

Josh shakes his head shrugging it off.

"Don't worry about it."

Elizabeth nods.

"Okay."

"One question though', Elizabeth looks at Josh and she sees him smiling, 'Do you think you can look at me without imagining me without my shirt?"

Elizabeth makes a face at Josh and he just laughs.

"What is it Elizabeth?"

"E.D.I. found something, she won't show us until your there."

Josh nods and waves his hand in front of Elizabeth.

"Ladies first."

Elizabeth stares at Josh as he follows her out into the Living Room. Josh and Elizabeth walk into the Living Room and everyone sees.

"E.D.I. found something Josh." Calhoun says

Josh walks to the couch and sits on the back of it looking at the TV.

"Okay E.D.I., I'm here. Show us."

"Yes Josh."

E.D.I. disappears and she brings up a news report. Everyone sees the news of a medical bus being attacked by husks.

"Josh. Husks." Elizabeth says

"I see that." Josh says standing straight up

The news anchorman explains the children were being transported to another hospital for possible treatment for the virus they've all received. Plague scuffs.

"Good luck with that."

"Plague."

Plague looks at Josh seeing him being serious about the situation. She looks back at the TV. The news anchorman explains while on transport, the 'creatures', what everyone is calling them attacked the bus and are slowing them down. The kids need to get to the hospital soon or they'll just keep getting worse. The husks surround the buses while law enforcement try and take care of them, but they prove only to be useless. Elizabeth shakes her head.

"We got to help them."

Everyone looks at Elizabeth.

"Your right. We got to." Josh says

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. This isn't our problem." Plague says waving her hand

Josh looks at Plague.

"Plague, those kids have the virus in them. Cyrus's virus!"

"I know that. But there not just going to let us help them. Don't forget, you have a target on your back."

Josh blinks and steps back.

"That's not going to stop me from helping.', looks at everyone, 'I'm going."

"Me too." Elizabeth says

Josh turns his head at Elizabeth and nods. Plague sighs and shrugs.

"Fine."

Josh looks at Plague and nods as well.

"Okay then."

"I'll come to." Vanellope says

Josh looks at Vanellope.

"No, you four stay. Give us a heads up from here."

Vanellope stops.

"But, But I can help."

Josh kneels down in front of Vanellope.

"Not this time Vanellope."

Vanellope thinks of a quick reason to come along.

"I'll drive! I'll just wait in the car."

Josh shakes his head.

"No Vanellope. You have to stay."

Vanellope sighs hard. Josh sees.

"I know you want to come and help. But only the three of us can handle that many husks all at once."

"So can Calhoun and Ralph but you're not taking them."

Vanellope makes a very good point. Josh stands up and continues to look down at Vanellope.

"I have my reasons Vanellope. Trust me on this okay?"

Vanellope sighs and puts her hands in her hoody. Josh looks at everyone.

"Call me if you hear anything. Give us a heads up okay?" Josh asks walking to the elevator

"Got it." Calhoun says

The three board the elevator and Josh slides down the door. As he closes it, Plague and Elizabeth cross their arms.

"So…why did you only bring the two of us?', Josh blinks and turns around at Plague, 'Hoping for a three-some or something?"

Elizabeth gulps and Josh, slowly shuts his eyes and hits the button.

"No Plague. I'm not hoping for a three some.', hits switch and elevator goes down, 'The reason I brought you two along only, is because I'm hoping this little trip will bring you two closer together.', Elizabeth and Plague look at each other, disgusted of each other, Josh claps, 'But hey, I'm hoping for that. What do you two say?"

"Hell no." Plague says looking the other way

"No thank you." Elizabeth says looking ahead

Josh smiles and shrugs looking back at the elevator door.

"See? You two are already starting to agree on something already."

The two realize and still don't look at each other. Josh sighs slowly as they reach the Garage.

Inside the Garage…

The three walk to the Camaro. As Josh gets closer to it he snaps his thumbs. The car starts right on, revving. Plague swooshes and appears in the back seat. Josh hops over the door and slides right in. Elizabeth opens the door and puts her seatbelt on. Josh turns the wheel and zips at the doorway.

"Hang on."

The three exit the garage and head to where the buses are at being attacked. Back in Josh's Apartment, Vanellope watches the car drive down the street and disappear around the corner. She sighs slowly.

"There they go…and here we stay…"

Ralph turns around.

"Take it easy kid, when Josh needs us, he'll let us know."

Vanellope turns around and puts her hands in her hoody.

"Easy for you to say Wrecking Ball."

Ralph narrows his eyes. Vanellope sees.

"Your hands Stink Brain."

Ralph looks at his hands and looks funny at Vanellope. Back with Josh and them. Josh drives the speed limit trying to get to the scene. He stops for red lights and looks around. Green light comes he speeds away. Josh looks down at the radio and points his hand at it. Elizabeth looks away outside her window and looks down at what Josh is doing. Plague throws her head back forward and sees to. Josh fires a small bolt into the screen and the radio tunes in on the station about the buses.

"_The buses are taking heavy damage. And law enforcement is not making a dent of the attackers. More and more just seem to come when they come into contact with someone else. Oh my God, the kids, I can hear them screaming! Someone's got to stop them!" _News Woman Yells

Josh sighs through his nose and puts his foot on the pedal, speeding through red lights and honking the horn. But Josh is causing too much of a scene and attracts the attention of a police car. Elizabeth and Plague turn their heads around. Josh looks at his rearview and sees the sirens. Josh rolls his eyes.

"Would someone like to take care of that please?', Elizabeth and Plague turn back and look at Josh, Josh turns his head and sees he's being stared at, 'Please?"

Elizabeth and Plague both roll their eyes. Plague swooshes and appears in the back seat of the squad car. She touches the driver and infects him with her virus. Elizabeth sticks her hand out over the door and aims it down at the ground. She creates slick ice. Plague sees and swooshes out and appears back in the backseat of Josh's car. The officer regains consciousness and slides all over the place on the street. Josh sees and nods.

"Nice work ladies."

Elizabeth and Plague, in their own ways nod in agreement with Josh. Josh floors it to the scene.

Bus Scene…

The buses are right down the street of the hospital there trying to get at. But there blocked off by husks trying to break inside. The children inside scream and hide from the husks, growling and roaring, smashing the windows all at the same time. The children continue to scream inside, crying and hiding. Out on the street, police officers fire at the husks that do in which hit them, but they ignore the shots.

"Are bullets aren't doing anything!" Police Officer yells

"Those kids are in trouble!"

"What are we going to do?!"

One of the Officers looks to his right and suddenly sees a husk walking at him.

"Whoa! HEY!" The Police Officer yells crawling away

The Police Officer crawls away from the husk. He shoots at it but the husk just absorbs the damage. The other Officer's see the husk walking towards them and fire against it to. The husk gets closer and closer to the Police Officer. He throws his hands up.

"NO!"

Just when the husk is about to touch the Officer, BOOM! The husk gets shot in the head on its side. The Officer and the others look and see the husk falling apart. They all look confused and suddenly revving is heard. They all turn their heads and see a Camaro speeding past them.

"HEY!" Officer yells

Josh drives past the police cars and alongside the husks against the bus. He fires shock after shock eliminating each husk against the bus. Josh spins the car around and all three of them get out of the car.

"Plague!"

"I know!"

"Elizabeth!"

"On it!"

Josh pulls out his staff and runs to the first bus that's being attacked. He runs up alongside and points his staff at the husks taking them down at a time. The kids inside the bus see strange lights and look out the windows. The kids see Josh taking down all the husks around the bus. They watch in amazement and Josh grabs one husk, throws it up against the bus and sticks it with his staff.

"AHH!', the husk falls apart, 'Picking on kids!', Josh runs to the door of the bus and sees the driver glued to the floor, he bangs on the door, 'Hey! HEY!', the bus driver sees, 'Move! There gone! Get this bus moving! GO!"

The bus driver nods and gets in his seat. He starts the bus up and it moves. Josh watches as the bus drives down the street towards the hospital. Josh nods and looks back at the other two.

"One down two to go."

Josh goes to the second bus and watches Plague and Elizabeth do their thing. They each take a side of the bus taking down the husks. Josh crosses his arms and each of them take down the last husk. He shakes his head and waves to the driver.

"Go, go!"

The bus driver sees and drives down the street.

"Let's go girls!"

Josh runs and the two follow behind. They attack the husks on the final bus. The Police Officers get out behind their squad cars and watch as these three with these extraordinary abilities taking down the husks with their powers. They watch and wonder if they should shoot, but there taking down the husks. Elizabeth ices several husks and Josh slides by swinging at them breaking them all into a million pieces. Plague fires fire at the husks and burns them all to a crisp. The husks are all gone. Josh walks to the side and bangs on the door to get the bus driver's attention.

"Move! There gone!"

The bus driver slowly gets up and gets in the seat. He puts the bus in drive and slowly drives down the street. The three follow to make sure nothing happens, and then suddenly the Officers point their guns at Josh recognizing him.

"Josh Litwak!', Officer yells, Josh and them stop and he slowly turns around, 'Your under arrest! Put your hands up now!"

Josh blinks and looks at the two. They wait for the response Josh is going to do and he shakes his head. He points his staff at the squad car and fires a medium bolt at it. It hits the car and it malfunctions like crazy. The Officer's see and back up quickly. Josh then puts his staff back on his back and looks ahead.

"That never gets old.', the three walk ahead, 'Come on. Let's make sure this bus gets to the hospital safely."

"It's right there. Are job is done." Plague says

Josh looks at Plague as the three continue to walk. Plague sees the look on Josh's face and just shakes her head knowing Josh isn't going to leave until he knows for sure that the bus will make it to the hospital. Back with the bus, it drives right in front of the hospital and suddenly, it stops. Josh notices the bus has stopped and continues walking. The bus driver sees he's not going anywhere and floors it. The back tires screech seeing that there moving but the bus isn't going anywhere. Josh sees smoke coming from the bus and pulls out his staff.

"Something's wrong. Stay alert."

The two stay alert and suddenly, they stop walking. Josh moves ahead and holds his staff firmly.

"Plague? Elizabeth? Did you hear me?"

"Josh!" Elizabeth yells

Josh stops and turns around. He sees the two frozen still trying to move. Josh narrows his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

The two try to move but it's like some force is stopping them.

"I…I can't…move!" Plague yells

Josh narrows his eyes and Elizabeth's eyes jump.

"Josh! Look!" Elizabeth points

Josh spins around and jumps seeing the bus slowly is being lifted up in the air.

"What the!?"

The bus gets lifted so high up the kids inside scream. Josh runs forward and suddenly trips. He falls hard and lands on his face.

"OW! OH!"

On top of the rooftop of the hospital, TK walks out lifting his hand. Josh shakes his head and looks up at the flying bus. He slowly looks down and sees a man on top of the rooftop.

"Who's that?"

Plague looks up and sees TK smiling funny holding the bus at the palm of his hand.

"TK…" Plague says

Josh turns around.

"Who?!"

Josh looks back at the man.

_I was mesmerized…seeing this guy lift up the bus…it had to be him. Who else would be doing it? But how? There's no time to think about it right now…_

TK throws the bus up even higher and onto the roof of the hospital. It slides and gets really close to the edge. It tips and balances over the edge.

"NO!" Josh yells

TK smiles and walks away. Elizabeth and Plague both get the feeling back in their bodies and run to Josh. As they run to Josh, husks come running out of nowhere and three see. Plague sighs annoyingly.

"This is getting boring!"

"You two take care of the husks; I'm going for the bus!" Josh yells running away

Josh runs directly to the hospital. Elizabeth and Plague turn and see Josh already gone. They look back at the oncoming husks and get ready to fight.

Inside the Hospital…

Josh runs through the electronic doors and slides in the main lobby. He looks around and sees people, doctors, nurses and even patients scattering around. Josh shakes his head trying to get someone's attention.

"Excuse me! Can someone help me!?', Josh runs ahead, 'I need the quickest way to the roof! HELP! SOMOENE!" Josh yells

No one helps Josh. Josh looks around and sees a door leading to a staircase. He runs to it and kicks it open. Josh starts climbing the long stairwell to the roof. Back outside, Plague and Elizabeth continue to fight the husks. They fight with their backs turned to each other. Both of them struggle to keep fighting.

"Did you know that guy?" Elizabeth asks

Plague slices and dices.

"What?!"

"You said something. You knew that guy on the roof didn't you?"

"Now's not the time frost bite!" Plague says cutting the heads off the husks

"When Josh gets back, you better come clean!"

Plague snickers.

"Or what? I'll get kicked off the team?"

Plague laughs to herself, Elizabeth rolls her eyes and the two continue on fighting. Back with Josh, he continues to run up the stairs. He's sweating like crazy and breathing heavily. Josh starts walking up the steps feeling the strength in his legs giving away. He stops for a second.

"I need…I need…I need to stop drinking so much Root Beer…"

Josh continues on hurrying to the Roof access. He finally reaches the last set of the staircase and sees the door. Josh smiles happily reaching the door but he stops. He reaches for his gun and slowly grabs the knob.

"One…two…three!"

Josh barges through the door and looks around the roof. Remembering who he saw on the roof from before, Josh keeps close eye. He keeps his gun aimed and looks around. As Josh walks around, he spots the bus at the edge of the hospital. The kids inside bang on the windows yelling for help. Josh puts the pistol away and runs to the bus.

"Hold on!"

Josh makes it to the bus and sees the driver through the door out. He rolls his eyes trying to pry the door open. The bus begins to slide off the edge and Josh notices.

"Crap! CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!"

Josh walks to one of the windows and the boys and girls watch. He grabs his staff and waves his hand.

"Move! MOVE! Get away from the window!"

The kids scatter away from the window and Josh hits the window with his staff at full strength. The window cracks and Josh pulls himself up inside the bus. As Josh gets inside the bus, all the kids gather around and suddenly, Josh's eyes hurt and he closes them. He starts rubbing them.

"Ahhh…"

As Josh opens his eyes, he sees the insides of all the boys and girls. They have the virus in them.

"Oh my God…"

There all infected. Josh can see the virus slowly growing inside them. He covers his mouth just seeing how horrifying it must be for them to be put through this.

_They have no idea what's going to happen to them when the virus finishes moving throughout their bodies…_

The kids stare at Josh waiting for him to do something. Josh blinks and snaps out of it.

"Okay, okay…everyone just relax. I'm going to get you all out of here, follow me, single file line. This way!"

Josh walks to the crack window and stands near it. A little boy is first and Josh picks him out. He throws himself out the window with the boy in his hands and drops him down carefully on the ground outside the bus.

"There. Go! Get away from the bus!"

The boy runs away and Josh does the same thing for the rest of everyone. As Josh gets more and more weight lifted off the bus, it starts to slide off more and more. Josh begins to feel the shaking of the bus and hurries it up.

"Come on, come on!"

Josh gets the last kid off and sets him down outside.

"Now the driver…"

As Josh moves to the front of the bus, the bus moves a lot more. Josh freezes and slowly approaches the driver. The driver lies down on top of the steering wheel still knocked out of it. Josh grabs him and opens the door.

"Okay…"

Then suddenly the bus falls completely over. Josh and the bus driver leap out the door as the bus falls over. The kids scream and Josh and the driver land on the roof as the bus falls back down on the ground and crashes hard. Josh looks back where the bus was a second ago and sighs in relief.

"Phew…why is it always a bus?"

The bus driver groans and Josh sees he's starting to wake up. Josh quickly gets up and sees the kids in the distance watching him. He walks towards them slowly and they just stare at him. Josh breathes slowly and carefully waves.

"I know what you're all going through', the kids just listen, 'I was exactly the same. I promise you all, you're going to be fine very soon."

Josh raises his hand and shows off the electricity coming from it. The boys and girl see and go 'ooh'. A little boy walks forward and Josh sees.

"Who…Who are you?"

Josh thinks for a moment and remembers a certain name. He gulps and looks at his hand.

"Call me…"

Suddenly loud footsteps are heard from the rooftop door. The kids and Josh look and suddenly police officers run in and guns drawn everywhere. They surround the kids and the kids notice that Josh is gone. On the side of the hospital, an emergency ladder is seen and Josh is sliding down it. Josh walks out quickly away from the hospital. As Josh walks in the street, he looks back at the hospital behind him. He nods knowing he'll keep his promise to the kids. Plague and Elizabeth walk up to Josh and he turns.

"Done hero boy?" Plague asks putting her sword away

Josh nods.

"It's not Hero Plague. It's Josh."

Plague nods like she cares.

"Let's go back." Elizabeth says

Josh shakes his head and the three head back to the Camaro.

Josh's Apartment…

The four watch on TV of the action that took place at the hospital. The news tells that all the children are alright. Especially the ones that were thrown on top of the roof before the bus finally fell over the edge. Ralph nods.

"Okay, I had nothing to do with that one falling over."

"But, how did the bus get on the roof in the first place?" Vanellope asks

"That is quite odd." Felix states

Calhoun watches seriously. Suddenly the elevator door is thrown up and no one notices. The three walk towards everyone and they still don't notice them. The three watch and see that the news is on about what happened at the hospital. Elizabeth leans over near Josh.

"Does news travel this fast here Josh?."

Josh smiles and shakes his head.

"That's kind of the idea Elizabeth."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes as the camera changes to a short interview of one of the sick children. A boy lying down in his bed.

"What can you tell us about the person who saved you young man?" Reporter asks

The boy struggles to speak and Josh takes notice. The boy moves up as he tries to talk.

"He…H-He said…he was just like us. And that were going t-t-to be fine."

"Really now? And what is his name?"

Josh gulps and turns around.

"He…He-He called himself…White Lightning."

Everyone blinks to hearing that. Josh opens the fridge door and shuts it. That attracts everyone's attention. Everyone turns their heads. The four see that the three are back. Josh looks and sees he's the center of attention.

"It was the only thing that came into mind."

"Really?" Vanellope asks leaning on top of the sofa

Josh shrugs.

"It worked in another world. You all remember that?"

Plague shakes her head and walks away.

"I'm still trying to forget."

Josh sighs slowly.

"I didn't want to tell him my actual name. I don't need these kids being under investigation. They have enough problems at it is."

"The virus?" Calhoun asks

"That's it Calhoun."

"It's kind of odd don't you think?" Calhoun asks

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What do you mean Calhoun?"

"How come the virus is spreading slowly in the children and quicker in the adults?"

Everyone thinks about that sees the obvious right there.

"That is a good question." Felix states

Josh turns to Plague.

"Any ideas Plague?"

Plague shrugs.

"I don't know. It depends on direct touch."

"From Cyrus?"

Plague nods.

"Who else."

Josh realizes and smiles.

"The game. Cyrus slapped the players every time they lost. It wasn't directly from him so the virus is spreading slower in their bodies. When Cyrus touches anyone in person it moves quicker than normal." Josh explains

"Did it happen to you Josh?" Elizabeth asks

The four look at Plague and remember when Josh was losing it inside _Sugar Rush. _Josh gulps and remembers.

"Yeah. Cyrus scratched me while I was in Game Central Station. The virus spread more quicker when I jumped in then it did when I got back out.', sighs slowly, 'Won't be going through that again. That's for sure."

"So what now?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks at the TV.

"Right now Vanellope, we figure out who was lifting a bus up and throwing it on the hospital."

"There was someone on the roof of the hospital." Elizabeth states

Josh looks back.

"I know. When I got up there, no one was up there. Whoever it was, they got out of there fast."

Plague doesn't pay attention but knows who Josh is talking about. Josh looks at E.D.I.

"E.D.I., have you uncovered any new data yet?"

"I am sorry Josh, I have yet not. I am using every bit of reprogramming, re-configuring, and data analyzing software to repair the data covered from Mr. Everett's computer. It is too far corrupt to find anything further."

"Can you find anything about what happened today at the hospital?"

"I will try but I can already assume there will not be a direct answer."

"Well find anything; we need something on this person who did this today."

Elizabeth turns her head at Plague sitting so far away.

"Don't you have something to say Plague?"

Josh blinks and turns around. He sees Elizabeth staring hard at Plague who is sitting down on the far side of the room.

"Plague?" Josh asks

Plague sighs and rolls her eyes.

"Plague mentioned something when her and I were unable to move. It kind of sounded like she knows this person."

"I wouldn't say 'knows' this dude princess. He's just someone who's very close to Cyrus."

Josh blinks and walks past Elizabeth.

"You know who this guy is Plague?"

Plague turns her head and brushes her long hair out of the way.

"I'm telling you right now Josh. I wasn't always kept in the loop of who Cyrus's best friends were. But seeing this dude today, he can't be the only one who came out of the game."

Everyone listens in closely to what Plague is saying. Josh gulps and takes one step forward.

"Are you trying to tell me there are more of these guys that came out of the game and are here in my world right this very second?"

Plague shakes her head.

"First one is bad as the next."

"What's the supposed to mean?" Calhoun asks

Plague smiles and looks down.

"TK', Josh narrows his eye and Plague looks back up, 'The guy who lifted the bus up. His name is TK."

"T, K?', Josh asks, 'What kind of name is that?"

"Telekinesis.', Josh looks back at Plague, 'That's his ability. He lifted that bus with his mind without breaking a sweat. Kept me and snowball over there frozen still."

Josh blinks.

"TK...did all that?', Plague nods, 'With his mind?"

"Nothing else in him besides doing everything with his mind."

Josh sighs.

"If he can lift a single bus with his mind, were in a lot of trouble then I thought. So this is what Tommy meant by mini-boss battles. Thanks Tommy…"

"You think TK is tough, then the Five are just as bad."

"The Five?" Ralph asks

"TK is part of the five. I don't know them all, I only know three of them. TK…Darkness…and Siren."

"These…people…they can do different stuff?" Vanellope asks jumping off the couch

"Yeah tiny…they do different stuff. As worse as the next."

Josh slowly rubs his eyes seeing they got more problems on their hands besides Cyrus.. He sighs slowly.

"Besides Cyrus, we got 'The Five' to worry about?"

Plague nods.

"It seems so."

"Who are the other two you didn't mention?"

"I don't know… 'White Lightning'. And it's a good thing I don't either."

"Yeah, why's that?" Elizabeth asks

Plague stares hard at Elizabeth.

"Because if I knew them…do you really think I would just be sitting here talking about them? I'd be half way around the world just to not be seen in their sights."

"Are they dangerous?" Calhoun asks

"Yeah they are blondy. And it seems like TK is going to be keeping us on his mind. That stunt at the hospital. That was his greeting card. Telling us what he can do and if anyone who gets in the way of Cyrus's plan." Plague explains

Josh blinks and looks at everyone behind him. They all look at Josh and wonder…what's the next possible plan…

End of Chapter 19…

Preview of Chapter 20…

So with TK on the loose causing havoc, Josh and company have to stop TK in order to proceed on with Cyrus. But that's proving more difficult than its worth with Special Agent Winter from the F.B.I. chasing after Josh thinking he's on the side with TK. Josh, a.k.a., White Lightning now has to stop TK, and maybe, just maybe, if Josh defeats TK, he might learn something new. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 20 – Mind over Electricity


	20. Chapter 20 - Mind over Electricity

Chapter 20 – Mind over Electricity

Factory…

Josh runs forward fast and throws his arm forward as if he's throwing a baseball. A powerful lightning bolt flies across the room and hits the wall hard. Its power spreads across the wall and shoots out electricity everywhere. Josh sees what he did and spins around. He pulls out his pistol and takes aim at several target toys lined up everywhere. Bang, bang, bang each shot goes off hitting each target. Josh charges up the pistol with his electricity making stronger bullets shoot out. Josh aims at the last target and fires. The target explodes apart and flies everywhere. Josh spins the gun around and holsters it behind his back. Plague swooshes by and sees what Josh is doing, she whistles.

"Not bad."

Josh turns and sees Plague.

"Got to prepare, you know?"

"Against Cyrus or TK?"

Josh takes sip of his bottle water.

"Does it matter?"

Plague thinks about it for a second and shakes her head.

"No it doesn't."

Josh nods and drinks a lot of water now. Plague notices.

"You know, for a guy who's very careful around water, you sure are chugging that thing down fast."

Josh stops drinking and looks.

"I need water. But it's not hitting the outside of my body. I just wouldn't want to stand near me when I'm walking through a puddle. Fair warning."

"Noted."

"You know what I also noted?"

"What?"

"I had E.D.I. look further into this TK guy from the Five', Plague listens, 'Besides moving things with his mind, E.D.I. told me he can fly."

"No shit?"

"Yeah. That's how he got out off the roof so frickin fast. TK can fly. That's just great."

"I don't see the problem."

Josh looks funny at Plague.

"You serious? He can fly. In case you hadn't noticed, I can't. The second he sees me he'll fly away before I can shoot a bolt at him."

Plague smiles and starts laughing. Josh takes notice.

"What's the joke?"

Plague spins her sword around and walks to Josh.

"The one thing 'E.D.I.' didn't tell you about TK is that he's always going to fight someone who's stronger than him. And in this case, he's going to fight you when the times right."

Josh crosses his arms seeing Plague knows the little bit of information on TK.

"You seem to know TK well enough on his fighting style. Got any pointers?"

Plague nods.

"Yeah…I do…', Plague walks to Josh and stands really close to him, 'You want to beat TK…make him think of something he never saw coming."

Josh slowly blinks like he understands. Over at the entrance to the Factory, Elizabeth walks in looking around for Josh. She gets to where Josh and Plague are at and she finds them staring at each other. Elizabeth blinks and shakes her head.

"Josh.', Josh and Plague turn their heads and see Elizabeth, Elizabeth points behind her and up to where Josh's Apartment is, 'We got a problem."

Josh and Plague look at each other and nod. Elizabeth takes notice and the three head back up to Josh's Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

As the three enter the apartment, the four watch TV of a news report of TK causing havoc to the police.

"Hey, what's going on?" Josh asks throwing his hands out

Calhoun turns around and points at the TV.

"Watch this and see for yourself Josh."

Josh looks at Calhoun and diverts his eyes at the TV. News choppers high above the scene zoom in and show TK just causing havoc against the police.

"_The police are doing everything they can to dispatch this suspect but their efforts are proving futile."_

"No shit lady." Plague says

TK gets surrounded by police officers and S.W.A.T. team members. They open fire and he just stops their bullets several feet away from him with his one hand. The police officers and S.W.A.T. team members look at each other wondering what just happened. TK spins the bullets around with his one finger, everyone sees and TK throws them back at the officers and members and they get riddled with fire. Josh flinches seeing TK is only toying with the men. He spins around and walks to the elevator.

"All right I'm done with this guy!', Josh walks to the elevator and everyone sees, 'Anyone wants to come your welcome to join."

Josh throws the elevator door up and he waits. Everyone walks to the elevator and Josh closes it. Everyone heads down.

Garage…

Josh, Elizabeth and Plague get in the Camaro. Vanellope, Calhoun, Ralph and Felix get in the Avalanche. Josh spins the wheel around burning rubber. Vanellope gets hooked into the pick-up and follows Josh out as everyone heads to where TK is at.

Cyrus's Hideout…

Cyrus sits down at his desk, feet up lying back in his leather chair. Across from him is a giant flat screen of the news of TK's doing. Cyrus can't help but laugh seeing what TK's doing.

"Wow…exactly as I thought…"

Couple seconds pass by and suddenly a dark figure appears in the shadows near Cyrus. The windows behind him shine in the bright sun light. The windows behind Cyrus are large so the entire room lights up a quarter a bit. Cyrus lowers his head and looks back up.

"I know you're here."

Footsteps are heard and Darkness slowly comes into view staying in the shadows. Cyrus turns his head seeing Darkness hiding right where the sunlight starts. Darkness stays right behind it. Cyrus smiles funny.

"Why don't you come out so I can see you better?"

Darkness chuckles and nearly puts his hand out.

"You know me better than that Cyrus."

Darkness puts his one finger out into the sunlight. It burns for a second and throws his hand back in the darkness.

"Oh yeah that's right. You're nocturnal. Sunlight hurts you."

"Hmm."

Darkness keeps to the shadows. He moves around the room and looks up at the TV seeing TK amongst the only center of attention that he is.

"And what do you have cooked up Cyrus?"

Cyrus drops his feet to the ground.

"Something that will benefit my plans of course."

"And you used TK?"

"He's a wild card but knows how to get certain things done."

"Are you that desperate?"

Cyrus smiles and points his hand.

"Relax Darkness. TK is an idiot and he's doing everything that I knew he would."

"Care to share?"

Cyrus shrugs.

"Why not.', Cyrus gets up and walks around the desk, 'I need Josh taken care of. As long as he's alive and out there I need him taken care of."

"And you really think TK can do that?"

"No. Not at all.', Darkness narrows his eyes, Cyrus sees, 'Having this done does either one of two things for me. If TK can take care of Josh, so be it. But if Josh takes care of TK', chuckles, 'Then TK is no longer my problem. He's taken care of and he's just one less moron I have to deal with."

Darkness smirks and understands Cyrus's plan. Cyrus looks up at the TV and sees TK's destruction.

"And if I understand what Josh is all about, he'll be on TV stopping TK in the matter of a few minutes…"

Darkness turns back around and looks back at the TV. Cyrus and Darkness watch as TK continues to show off his powers.

Back with TK…

A squad car comes driving straight at TK behind his back. The car hits TK but instead hits a force field behind him. TK turns seeing what just happened. The officer inside rubs his head and sees his plan didn't work. TK waves his finger around and the officer sees. He suddenly lifts the car up like it's nothing and throws it back. The officer inside the car flies away from TK and rolls around nearly crumpling up. Other officers try to help but TK pushes them back as he steps forward. TK looks around and sees the destruction he's causing.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! This is so much fun!"

TK walks to the car that he flipped over with the office still trapped inside it. He struggles to break free but it proves to be useless. TK smiles funny and points his hand at the car. And then suddenly, BANG! A small bolt hits the side of TK's face and he loses his balance.

"OW! What the hell?!" TK shouts looking around

TK looks around and in the distance, spots Josh pointing his staff at him, along with everyone else on each side of him. TK wipes the side of his face and smiles.

"Well now. It's about time."

Josh narrows his eyes and lowers his staff. TK throws his hands back and smacks them hard creating a hard shock wave. Josh and everyone sees it.

"Oh crap…"

The shockwaves hits everyone and they all go flying. Josh sticks his staff into the ground to keep him from flying further away like everyone else. Josh looks back to see if everyone is alright, Elizabeth and Plague quickly recover. Josh looks at his friends and sees them still recovering. He stands up and runs at TK.

"TK!" Josh yells

TK just snickers as Josh gets closer to him. Elizabeth and Plague watch and stop. As Josh gets closer to TK, TK waves his hand and freezes Josh. Josh feels his body completely motionless.

"HEY!" Josh struggles to yet out

TK lifts his finger up and so does Josh. Josh sees him flying and looks back at TK. TK waves his finger at Josh as if he's a child saying, 'That was a bad move'. Josh narrows eyes and suddenly TK flicks his hand at Josh and he goes flying.

"AHHHH!"

Elizabeth and Plague see Josh flying right at them and they try to run away but Josh crashes against them and they roll on the ground together. TK shakes his head and walks away. Josh shakes his head and sees he's on top of Elizabeth and Plague.

"Well that didn't go as I expected."

Plague shakes her head and pushes Josh off.

"Get off of me!"

Plague throws Josh off of her and the two get up. Elizabeth shakes her head and Josh lends out his hand.

"Here."

Elizabeth sees and takes Josh's hand.

"Thank you."

Josh pulls Elizabeth up and Josh looks at TK walking away. He shakes his head.

"I can't get close enough to him. The second he sees he he'll just wave his hand and push me away." Josh explains

"What can we do?" Elizabeth asks

"Not get seen, that's the smart choice." Plague states

Josh shakes his head.

"Smart Plague, that's probably the smartest…', Josh pauses and the two look at Josh together, he blinks and snaps his thumb, 'I'm impressed Plague. Smart."

Elizabeth looks at Plague with a lost look on her face.

"Her? Smart? Are you alright Josh?" Elizabeth asks with a puzzled look on her face

Plague turns her head and tilts it looking hard at Elizabeth. The four finally come to the three.

"I got a plan, listen up!', everyone listens, 'Ralph, Felix. Get to that cop car and get that officer out of the vehicle."

Ralph nods.

"Got it."

Felix agrees.

"Okay."

"Ladies distract TK long enough for me to get behind him."

"Were a distraction team now?" Plague asks

Josh shrugs and grabs his staff.

"You want to get TK or not?"

Plague doesn't say anything. Josh looks at what TK is doing and points.

"Go, I'll come up behind him to get him down. GO!"

The girls scatter towards TK. Josh looks around and slowly looks up. He sees a power line connecting above the street lights. Josh slowly smiles and runs towards it. Back with TK, he walks past a store and makes all the contents inside fly out, causing a small explosion. All the store's contents fly out and land near TK's feet. He picks up the object and stares at it.

"Hmm."

TK tosses it to the side and suddenly a snowball hits the back of his head and he spins around.

"What the?!"

TK turns around and sees Elizabeth catching and tossing a snowball up and down. He narrows his eyes and Plague just watches.

"A snowball? For real?"

Elizabeth sighs and looks hard at Plague.

"Watch this."

Plague throws a fireball at TK but he deflects it with his force field. She gulps seeing that her plan didn't exactly work.

"Oh…well…shit…"

"At least mine made it through." Elizabeth states

Plague sighs hard and Calhoun sees the two getting into one of their things.

"Enough! Move out!"

Calhoun and Vanellope run ahead and the two behind follow. TK sees the four girls running at him ready to fight. He starts to laugh.

"This is what it's come to? Women? ', looks directly up, 'Ha, ha! Man I love my work!"

Vanellope sticks close to Calhoun behind a car. She taps the door and Calhoun sees. Vanellope wants to drive the car while Calhoun shoots at TK. Calhoun agrees to the idea and the two get in. Back with Elizabeth and Plague, both of them use their abilities and fire at TK who simply deflects their attacks by his force field.

"Your ice frost bite isn't doing much to him."

"Neither is your fire…flame…ball…"

Plague laughs.

"Seriously, that's your best?"

"Shut up!"

Suddenly Vanellope drives right between the two and they move out of the way. The two watch as Calhoun sticks herself outside the window and fires at TK. TK deflects the bullets and Vanellope quickly drives away before TK gets the same idea with the cop car. Back with the cop car, Ralph turns over the vehicle as the officer struggles inside to unbuckle himself from the seat belt. The car lands on its right side and the Officer shakes his head. Felix jumps up on the hood and the officer sees the short man.

"Hang on sir, don't worry. Everything is under control."

"What the hell?"

Felix slides inside the squad car and sees the seat belt buckle is broken. Felix spins around his golden hammer and gets ready to hit the buckle. The officer watches with a confused look on his face and Felix hits the buckle. The officer watches as the buckle magically gets fixed and gets easily clicked out. Felix nods happily seeing he fixed it.

"All fixed!"

The officer blinks wondering what to do or even say next. Back with TK, he brushes his hair back seeing the two girls on foot, and the two inside the car slowly pulling up. He starts to laugh seeing that these four girls aren't putting up much of a fight.

"This is becoming quite boring…', the four see TK yawning, 'Oh I'm sorry…excuse me…wasn't there someone else here with you? That up force guy who came up at me and I flicked away…where is he? Anyone? Anyone?" TK asks looking around

The four girls look at each other wondering where Josh is even at. Back with Josh, he's…experimenting…

"WOO-HOOO!"

Josh is sliding along the power lines around the street. The current inside him along with the current on the power line.

"This is frickin awesome!"

Josh continues to slide on the power lines and towards TK. TK blinks and slowly turns around.

"Who the hell is laughing?"

TK turns around and sees a bright dot flying on the side.

"The hell is that?"

Josh is just a blur to everyone. TK narrows his eyes as Josh pulls out his staff.

"Surprise TK!"

Josh charges off the power line and flies in the air. TK just watches as Josh flies through the air and slams down hard on him.

"OH!" TK yells

"Yeah!"

Josh rolls away as TK hits the ground hard. He rolls further away and quickly gets back up. The girls see Josh is back and ready to fight.

"Miss me ladies?"

Josh looks back and sees the looks there all giving him. He gulps.

"I'm back aren't I?"

Josh turns back at TK and suddenly the ground starts to shake a little. He looks at the ground seeing small gravel being slowly floating up.

"Oh boy…"

TK slowly turns around and looks hard at everyone. Josh holds his staff firmly as TK reaches for something inside his coats.

"Get ready! He's grabbing some', as TK reaches for whatever he's getting, he pulls out two Frisbee looking objects, Josh narrows his eyes seeing what TK pulled out, 'thing…', Josh looks back at everyone, 'Frisbees? Am I seeing this right?" Josh asks looking back

TK smiles and suddenly floats his Frisbees up. Josh narrows his eyes and suddenly they light up glowing dark red. Josh's look changes from confused to surprising. The disks TK is using kind of look like the Identity disks from _Tron Evolution_. TK smiles funny and Josh takes notices. He flicks his hand and suddenly the disks spin around as if they were blades and fly at the group. Josh flinches and jumps.

"GET DOWN!"

Josh, Plague and Elizabeth slide down on the ground as one of the disks fly over them. Calhoun and Vanellope duck inside the car as the other disk just cuts through the windshield and out the back. TK just smirks and sees what he has done. Josh quickly gets back up on his feet and looks at the car.

"You two alright!?"

Calhoun sticks her head up behind the door. She narrows her eyes hard and Josh sees.

"Never mind…"

Plague turns back and sees one of the disks flying back at them.

"Look out!"

Josh turns and spins out of the oncoming disk's way.

"Whoa!

Josh watches as the two disks fly back to TK and he stops them with his mind. TK smirks off at Josh and Josh sees him just fooling around. Josh nods.

"Okay…"

Josh walks ahead and twirls around his staff. The girls watch as Josh kicks his staff with his feet and holds it like a baseball bat ready to hit a ball.

"Um, Josh? What are you doing?" Elizabeth asks

Josh puts the bat up getting ready to swing.

"I want to hit a home run."

"Josh…" Elizabeth says

"Hey! TK!', TK sees what Josh is doing, 'Give me a curve if you can."

TK smirks. He waves his hand one hand and shoots the disk blade right at Josh. Josh sees it coming and narrows his eyes.

"Oh SHI!"

Josh swings his staff at the oncoming disk and BOOM! The disk and staff collide against each other forcing Josh almost backwards. The blade and staff hit hard against each other. TK blinks seeing that his blade isn't going through Josh's staff. Josh's electricity starts shooting out seeing he's getting more angry than usual. He diverts his eyes over and notices a fire hydrant. Josh flinches and swings the disk right at it. It flies and everyone sees. TK blinks and watches as his disk cuts the top part of the hydrant off and water shoots directly at him.

"HEY! WHOA! NO!"

Josh smiles and looks back at everyone. He shrugs and everyone looks at Josh knowing why Josh did that. Josh looks back at TK and the water finally stops by TK's doing as he diverts the water elsewhere. TK looks hard at Josh.

"You think that's funny!?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No…', TK blinks wiping the water off his forehead, 'But this is going to be hilarious."

TK narrows his eyes and watches Josh raise his hand. Josh blinks and…snaps his thumb. A small current flies up to the water where TK is standing and shocks the hell out of him.

"AH! HAHHHH! HWHAHHAH!" TK screams

Josh flinches and all the women watch. He looks back at them all and sees Plague smiling and nodding. Elizabeth looks away disgusted. Vanellope blinks watching TK get electrocuted and Calhoun looks hard at Josh.

"Josh!"

Josh looks at Calhoun and she bobs her head at Vanellope. He looks at Vanellope seeing TK get shocked really hard. Josh sighs slowly and knocks off the current to TK. TK falls to his knees getting his strength back. Josh walks to him ready to take him down. The women watch and Calhoun gets out of the car.

"Josh, what are you going to do?"

Calhoun walks ahead but Plague stops her. She looks down at Plague hard.

"Let him finish it. It has to be done."

Calhoun blinks and looks back at Josh. TK finally gets his strength back and stands up. Josh puts his staff on his back and whistles to get TK's attention.

"TK!"

TK turns and sees Josh's electric punch straight to his face. The girls flinch and Josh does it again, over and over again. TK tries to deflect Josh's attack but Josh gets to him quick before he can stop him. Josh clenches his fist so hard; a powerful current spreads around his hand. TK staggers but Josh punches him and he goes flying down the street. Josh shakes his hand and looks at his fist.

"Doesn't feel good doesn't it TK?"

Josh watches as TK doesn't move at all. He pulls out his staff to finish this. Josh approaches TK while he still lies on the ground, he gets closer and Josh sees TK's eyes shut. Josh raises his staff and suddenly TK opens his eyes. TK jumps up and flies away. Josh just watches helplessly.

"NO!" Josh says flinching back

Everyone watches as TK flies out of there, very high in the sky and gone in the distance. Josh slowly looks down and sighs slowly.

"What a sissy…" Josh says turning around

Josh returns to the girls and Plague just shakes her head.

"You should have finished him."

Josh slowly looks at Plague.

"You did see him fly away right? OR am I the only one who saw that?"

"Will just chase him down." Plague states

Josh shrugs.

"With what? You got a helicopter I don't know about?"

Suddenly sirens are heard. Felix and Ralph come to the scene and Josh turns around down the street and sees the sirens coming.

"That's are cue to leave, let's go."

Josh and gang leave as more police arrive and of course, Special Agent Winter puts the SUV in Park and gets out. Winter looks around at the destruction all around.

"My, oh my…look at all this."

Winter walks ahead and walks past the spot where TK was lying when Josh first slammed him down into the ground when he jumped off the power line.

"How the hell did this happen?"

Suddenly static shoots off the power line near Winter and he looks. Winter watches as the power line shoots off static and looks back down at the hole in the ground. He looks to the side and sees the injured officer that was in the flipped over car. He's brought over to the ambulance for treatment. Winter walks up as police officers stop him.

"Agent Winter, F.B.I. Move to the side now." Winter orders

The officers move to the side as Winter climbs in and sits next to the gurney of the injured officer.

"Excuse me, officer. I'm Agent Winter of the F.B.I. I need to ask you a few questions.', the officer shrugs, Winter reaches in his coat pocket and pulls out a photograph of Josh, 'Was this boy here?"

The officer looks at the photo and slowly shakes his head.

"N…No…"

"Are you sure? He didn't do this to you?"

"N…N…No…something…else." Officer says weakly

Winter narrows his eyes.

"Something else?"

"He was…throwing things…lifting things out of thin air…', Winter just blinks to hearing the officer's story, 'Then…this small man with a golden hammer…slammed his hammer on my belt…and it…magically got fixed."

Winter blinks and shakes his head.

"Get yourself fixed up. I'll question you later."

The officer tries to nod but the medic does his work on him. Winter gets out of the ambulance and looks around.

"This is getting more insane by the day.', suddenly Winter's phone rings and he answers it, 'Hello?"

"Winter."

"Chief. How can I help you?"

"Any news on your fugitive?"

"No. I believe he was here, not much info from any key witnesses."

"'Believe' Winter?', Winter rolls his eyes, 'You always show up after Litwak gets away."

"I'm going to catch him sir, but he's surprisingly hard to find."

"Get on it. And catch him. There's a lot of kids out there who are sick because of him Winter."

Winter nods.

"I know sir."

Winter hangs up and looks around. He sighs slowly and takes a step forward. But all of a sudden, Winter's phone rings again and he answers it but before he does, all he sees on his phone is 'UNKNOWN CALLER'. Winter narrows his eyes and answers it.

"Hello?"

"Special Agent Winter?" Cyrus asks

Winter looks around.

"Who's asking?"

"Think of me as a person who knows how to find people."

Winter narrows his eyes.

"Hearing the sound of that, I'm hanging up."

"You want Josh Litwak?"

Winter freezes.

"You know how to find Josh Litwak?"

"Yes I do."

"How do you know him?"

"In a way. But let's not get into detail. Do you want him or not?"

Winter nods and smirks.

"Is this one of those deals where you do this for me and I have to return the favor?"

"Nope. I'm not expecting anything from you Agent Winter. Mr. Litwak should be caught for what he's done.', Winter blinks, 'I believe in the justice system Mr. Winter, and when a young man does something like he's done. Or can do. Don't you agree he should be locked up?"

Winter gulps.

"I do too believe in the justice system, but if you want me to break the law, I'm hanging up."

"I'm not asking you to break the law Mr. Winter. All I'm asking is to be at a certain spot at the right time."

"Certain spot at the right time?"

"Yes. You do that, you'll find Josh."

Winter looks around and knows he's got nothing to go on to bring or find Josh. He rubs his eyes and sighs slowly.

"Where and when?"

Cyrus begins to laugh and gives the details.

Cyrus's Hideout…

A couple minutes pass and Cyrus hangs up the phone. Cyrus sighs slowly and smiles.

"I love it when other people do the hard work."

As Cyrus walks around his desk, his phone suddenly rings. Cyrus rolls his eyes and picks it up.

"Cyrus speaking."

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" TK yells

Cyrus rubs his ear gently and puts his ear to the phone.

"Oh, hello TK. Could you speak a little louder, I can hardly hear you."

TK is actually flying and making it tough to speak to Cyrus.

"Was this your plan? Send that little punk at me?"

"I do not know what you are talking about TK."

"Bull shit! That bastard and his four ladies got the jump on me. I had everything under control until they showed up."

"It's not my fault your making yourself appear on TV. Josh probably saw you on TV and came to you on his own. Remember, I only asked you to move a bus. I didn't tell you to cause mayhem in a small part of the town."

"Whatever! 'Josh' clocked me five times in the face.', Cyrus smiles and hides his laugh under his breath, 'He was about to finish me!"

Cyrus smiles and sits down.

"Oh, we can't have that now can we?"

"I need a place to lay low."

Cyrus nods knowing this is all part of the plan.

"I know a place you can go."

"Great!"

"Follow my directions and just wait. I'll personally come to meet you TK."

"All right!"

Cyrus goes to tell TK the safe destination.

Josh's Apartment…

Garage…

The two cars pull and Josh spins the wheel around. Everyone gets out of the cars and Josh stops ahead.

"I'll see you all up in a minute…go on ahead without me."

Everyone walks ahead of Josh into the elevator. Elizabeth stops and looks back. Calhoun sees Elizabeth staying.

"Elizabeth?"

"Go on ahead without me. I need a moment."

Vanellope blinks seeing Elizabeth is staying behind with Josh. Calhoun shuts the elevator door and everyone goes up. Elizabeth watches as the elevator goes up, she turns around and sees Josh just walking around in circles just staring at the ground. She walks to Josh.

"Josh."

Josh diverts his eyes up and sees Elizabeth stayed behind.

"What is it Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth slowly approaches Josh.

"Cyrus is are main threat, yes?"

Josh blinks and slowly nods in a funny way.

"Uh, yeah?"

"And from what he discovered today, it seems there are several people helping him. For example, this TK person."

"There is a point to all this right?"

Elizabeth stops directly in front of Josh.

"You once told me that Cyrus gets the pleasure off fighting someone then just fighting them.', Josh blinks and Elizabeth looks funny at Josh, 'You say that, but you seemed to be enjoying it when you were fighting TK."

Josh blinks remembering what he once said to Elizabeth. He starts to shake his head, denying it.

"I was not 'enjoying' it." Josh says walking around

Elizabeth watches Josh just walking around.

"'Throw me a cure'?"

Josh stops and looks back.

"I was only horsing around."

"I don't see a difference."

"Well there is."

"No there isn't."

Josh walks to Elizabeth.

"Yes there is!"

Josh gets really close to Elizabeth and she stands her ground. He breathes slowly, and in Elizabeth's eyes, Josh sees how he's acting from the reflection. Josh slowly backs up and wipes his face. Elizabeth sighs slowly cooling off. Josh crosses his arms and slowly nods.

"Your right Elizabeth. Your right.' Elizabeth smiles softly and nods, Josh takes a deep breath, 'No more horsing around." Josh says walking ahead

Elizabeth turns and watches Josh walk to the elevator.

"Josh?', Josh stops and turns around, 'Are…Are you going to kill him?"

Josh gulps to hearing that question. Elizabeth waits for an answer and Josh shakes his head.

"I can't risk TK being out there anymore causing problems.', Elizabeth slowly nods, 'He's got to be eliminated."

"Okay."

Josh looks at the elevator.

"Come on, let's go up and investigate where TK might go next."

"Got it." Elizabeth says nodding and walking to Josh

The two walk up to the steps and Josh pushes the button to call the elevator. The two wait patiently and Josh bobs his head.

"So…read a lot of 'Help Yourself' books?', Elizabeth tilts her head and looks funny at Josh, Josh bobs his head once again, 'Oh right. That's right. You had A LOT of time on your hands."

Josh snickers and Elizabeth crosses her arms.

"Are you done?"

Josh clears his throat.

"Y-Yeah. I am."

The elevator arrives and the two get on. Josh pushes the button and the elevator goes up. As the two wait, Josh starts laughing again under his breath and Elizabeth shakes her head.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh and Elizabeth arrive and Vanellope notices. Josh goes directly to the kitchen and Vanellope goes to Josh.

"Want some Root Beer?"

Josh nods and looks at Vanellope.

"Not shaken?" Josh asks

Vanellope smiles.

"Of course not."

Josh looks odd at Vanellope seeing her just handing him the Root Beer. He slowly takes it and examines it.

"Well…it doesn't look like a bomb."

Josh shrugs and carefully pops the top off. Nothing happens and Josh smiles.

"Okay, it must be good to drink.', Vanellope nods happily and Josh takes a sip, as he drinks the Root Beer, Josh's eyes near pop out of his head, he stops drinking the Root Beer and chugs what's in his mouth down his throat, 'Ahh…oooh….disgusting…"

Vanellope narrows her eyes.

"What's wrong? I didn't do anything to it."

Josh shakes his head.

"No you didn't Vanellope but…"

"But what?" Vanellope asks standing on the contour

"It's warm and flat. You didn't pick this up from out here did ya?"

Vanellope thinks for a second.

"Uh…yeah?"

Josh nods.

"The ones outside the fridge Vanellope are bad ones. I have to recycle them."

"Oh…sorry…"

Josh shakes his head.

"No worries Vanellope. You didn't know."

Elizabeth walks by and hands another one to Josh.

"This one should be good."

Josh looks over at Elizabeth and takes it.

"Oh thanks Elizabeth."

Vanellope narrows her eyes and Josh takes it. Before he opens it, he feels it and it's warm.

"Elizabeth. You gave me a warm bottle."

Vanellope smiles and Elizabeth takes it. The two watch and as Elizabeth opens the bottle, she blows cold air and it freezes up. Elizabeth hands back the bottle to Josh and he takes it.

"Not anymore."

Josh takes a small sip of the Root Beer and nods.

"Not bad. You can replace my refrigerator." Josh says with a smirk

Vanellope narrows her eyes and puts her hands in her hoody. Elizabeth shakes her head.

"No."

Josh begins to beg with a look on his face.

"Please?"

Elizabeth sees.

"No Josh."

"Come on."

"NO."

The two get in at each other and Vanellope shakes her head.

"Hey!"

Josh and Elizabeth stop looking at each other and look at Elizabeth.

"What's up Vanellope?" Josh asks with a casual look on his face

Vanellope taps her foot and the two look at each other and back at Vanellope.

"What?" Josh asks

Vanellope lends out her arms.

"Help me down."

Josh narrows his eyes and picks up Vanellope. He sets her down on the ground and guides him to the TV. Elizabeth watches with an odd look on her face and follows everyone to the living room. Suddenly E.D.I. pops up on screen.

"Josh, I have a message for you."

Josh leans forward.

"What is it E.D.I.?"

"A message."

"From who?"

"It's from TK.', that catches everyone's attention, Josh blinks and sets down his Root Beer, 'Would you like me to bring it up?"

Josh gulps and everyone looks at him.

"Put it up."

E.D.I. puts up the message and shows a message written by TK. Josh narrows his eyes reading it.

"'_Josh, I'll be waiting for you in the Warehouse District. Warehouse 13. Don't keep me waiting' TK'._', TK sent this E.D.I.?"

"I ran scan finding the IPP address from where it came from, but the second I pin point its exact location, it changes."

Josh nods and stands up.

"Figures. TK might be flying from state to state sending that message to me. For a hot head, he seems to be smart beyond his powers', everyone watches as Josh walks to the windows and looks out, 'Why would TK send me a location to where he's going to be? For payback…or maybe it's a trap."

"Payback." Plague says

Josh turns around and looks at Plague for her answer.

"Payback, huh?"

Calhoun shakes her head.

"No. It's a trap. Our enemy wouldn't just send us to a place where there going."

"You would think that huh?" Plague asks

Calhoun narrows her eyes hard at Plague.

"Yes I would."

Josh sighs.

"Let's put it to a vote then.', everyone looks at Josh, 'Who thinks it's for payback?', Plague immediately throws her hand up, Josh watches as Ralph slowly raises his hand, Vanellope sees and raises her hand, Josh nods, 'Three of you think it's payback. Now, a trap?', Calhoun raises her hand, so does Elizabeth and so does Felix, Josh nods, 'Three for payback. Three and three. Now it's my vote."

Josh rubs his chin as everyone waits for his answer. He sighs slowly and turns around seeing the night sky coming.

"I believe it's payback', the three agree to Josh's agreement, 'But I also agree that it's a trap.', the three who agreed on that agree as well, 'But not by TK.', Josh turns back at everyone, 'This is Cyrus's doing. I can just sense it a mile away."

Everyone sees what Josh is coming up with.

"But why with TK?" Elizabeth asks

Plague scuffs.

"Didn't you see him? He's a total moron."

Elizabeth makes a face and Josh nods.

"He sends TK after me in hoping of stopping me, but it seems like Cyrus is playing TK for a fool."

"Little fish in an ocean."

Josh shrugs.

"Nice metaphor Plague, please take out the word 'ocean' though." Josh says nervously

Vanellope laughs under her breath. Josh sighs and shrugs.

"If Cyrus is behind this whole thing, he's been setting it up from the start. Maybe even with the hospital thing. He sent me this message; he probably sent TK the same thing." Josh explains

"You really think he'll go there?" Felix asks

Josh nods.

"Cyrus is in charge of the 'Five'. They listen to him. So yeah Felix, he'll show."

"So you're going then?" Ralph asks

Josh doesn't say anything. Do they go into Cyrus's plan trap? Or go and finish TK for good?

F.B.I. Headquarters…

Winter sits in his boss's office giving a detailed plan about where Josh is going to be, but the Chief doesn't entirely believe it.

"Who's your source?"

"Sir, I'm telling you. This is genuine."

"Who's your source?"

Winter struggles with an exact answer and comes up with story.

"I know what I'm doing Sir. I just need the green light to get a team together to capture Josh Litwak."

"Don't you mean 'White Lightning'?', Winter rolls his eyes, 'The news is just eating this kid up alive. Ever since he saved those kids from the hospital."

"There's no proof yet that he didn't start it."

"So he magically lifted a bus up to the top of the roof?"

"Uhhh…"

"Oh, and how about this?"

Winter turns his TV on and Winter watches news clips of Josh throwing bolts at the husks alongside with other people who have the same like powers fighting the husks.

"What about his accomplices? They don't exactly look nice."

"I'm only after Litwak Sir. The others, they come at a different time."

"This is a little different Winter. This kid…he isn't normal."

"None of them ever are Sir. Green light?"

The Chief sighs. He looks at Winter just waiting for an answer. He nods slowly.

"You got the green light."

Winter taps his boss's desk and walks out. The Chief just watches.

"Winter…', Winter stops at the door and turns around, 'Don't let this get personal. Just…don't overdue it."

Winter nods and leaves.

F.B.I. Headquarters…

Garage…

Several agents and teams get armored and suited up. They load their weapons as Winter walks by putting on a vest.

"Okay, listen up!', everyone looks at Winter as he begins the debrief, 'Are target is Josh Litwak. A.K.A. White Lightning.', some of the men laugh and Winter notices, 'From what we've seen on the TV, it seems that this kid can shoot out lightning bolts out of his hands!', the men laugh even more, 'Joke or not, this is real! I don't believe it until I see it! Now, he's likely armed and very dangerous! If he resists, fire at will! At most, try and take him alive! Move out!"

The men scatter and get into their vehicles and SUVS. Winter gets in the lead F.B.I. SUV. He taps the top of the SUV and the driver guns it. The SUV drives out of the garage of the F.B.I. building with several SUVS in tow. Back with Winter, he reaches inside his vest and pulls out his cell phone. He turns it on revealing a text message that was sent by 'UNKNOWN CALLER' (Cyrus). The text message reads, '_Warehouse District. Warehouse 13_'. Winter sighs slowly and puts the phone away wondering what is going on.

End of Chapter 20…

Preview of Chapter 21…

With all sides about to meet at one place, it's a wonder who's going to prevail. TK thinks he's meeting Cyrus. Josh and company think they're going to meet TK because of Cyrus but in the back of Josh's mind, he knows it's a trap by Cyrus, but what exactly? And to top it off, Agent Winter who will stop at nothing to arrest Josh, is on the way to the exact same warehouse. It's going to a shocking battle. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 21 – Second Choice.


	21. Chapter 21 - Second Choice

Chapter 21 – Second Choice

Streets…

The sun is gone. The night sky is out. A full moon is out as well. Josh and company drive down the street towards the Warehouse District where the meeting is at. Josh drives in the Camaro with Plague and Elizabeth, with the top down. In the pick-up behind, the rest is in there. Josh comes up to an intersection as the light changes red. He eases up on the brake and comes to a stop. As Josh stops, Vanellope sees and quickly tries to brake and softly bumps into the Camaro jump.

"Oh!" Elizabeth says jumping up

Josh blinks and Plague looks back.

"Seriously!?"

Josh looks at the side rearview mirror and sees Vanellope's reaction to what she did. He sighs slowly and looks up at the red light staring into his face. It's a really quiet intersection. No cars are passing. Josh diverts his eyes down at the radio and turns it on. Elizabeth looks as Josh scans through the stations looking for the weather station. He finds it and leaves it.

"_Weather tonight will mostly be rainy. No storms or thunder. Less than an inch of rain…"_

Josh turns it off.

"Great."

"Aw, what's the matter Lightning? Can't get your bolt up without your thunder?" Plague asks leaning forward

Josh slowly turns his head and stares at Plague.

"No Plague. I don't need my thunder to get my bolt up.', Elizabeth shakes her head hearing this 'dirty' talk, 'As I said before, water and electricity don't mix well together."

"Is that why you smell?"

Josh flinches. He looks at Elizabeth.

"I stink?', Elizabeth doesn't look at Josh, he blinks seeing her looking away, 'Elizabeth?', Elizabeth sighs and kindly waves her hand, Josh looks disgusted, 'Why didn't anyone tell me this?', sniffs and doesn't smell it, 'Oh what am I doing? I can't smell my own stink. It's impossible."

"Not for us."

Josh sniffs.

"At least I don't smell like ember and burning flames."

Plague sniffs herself.

"That's the smell of victory."

Elizabeth looks out the window.

"Or the smell of an explosion going off." Elizabeth whispers

Josh snickers hearing what Elizabeth said. Plague narrows her eyes wondering what's going on.

"The hell is so funny?"

Josh waves his hand.

"Nothing Flame Ball."

Elizabeth smiles and covers her mouth, still looking away. Plague sits back and Josh sees the light change.

"Here we go."

Josh floors it and the second vehicle follows.

Warehouse District…

TK flies through the air and lands in the center of the District.

"Okay…"

TK looks around for the Warehouse he's supposed to be. He spots the Warehouse he's supposed to be at and looks at his phone. He brings up the text message that Cyrus sent him.

"'_Be at Warehouse 14. I'll be there_'. Yeah, you better be there Cyrus."

TK walks forward and walks to the Warehouse. The giant doors fling open as TK waves his hand.

Warehouse 14…

TK slams the giant doors behind him with a flick of his hand. He walks further into the Warehouse and sees nothing around.

"Cyrus? Cyrus! I'm here! If you hiding, come out!"

TK walks further in. Suddenly rain hits around the Warehouse and TK notices. Small drops of water from the ceiling and hits the top of TK's head. He notices.

"Oh, ah! Come on!"

The rain drop hits the floor and slowly starts making a puddle. TK wipes the water off his head and looks around.

"What a shit hole…"

Back with Josh and Company…

Josh pulls up to the gates to the Warehouse District. Vanellope pulls in behind and everyone gets out of the cars. The group walks up to the front gates leading to the Warehouse and sees a giant gates leading in.

"Is it locked?" Felix asks

Josh walks up to the gates and shakes them. He finds a giant padlock and nods.

"Yep."

"Josh?" Elizabeth asks

"Yep."

Elizabeth points her hand at the lock and freezes it. Ralph cracks his hand.

"Josh?"

"Yep."

Ralph throws up his hands and pounds the gates to pieces. Josh wipes off a small peck of the metal gate off his shoulder and Ralph finishes.

"All done." Ralph says

Josh nods and everyone steps over the broken gate. Felix stops and looks back at the gate and back at Josh.

"Josh?"

Josh nods.

"Yep."

Felix spins his magic hammer around and fixes the gate. He finishes and rushes to everyone else. The group walks to the center of the Warehouse District. The group looks around for the Warehouse 14.

"Anyone see it?" Josh asks

The group looks around. Vanellope blinks and finds '14' ahead.

"There." Vanellope says pointing

Josh looks at Vanellope and at what she's pointing at. He sees Warehouse 14 in the distance ahead of them.

"Good eye Vanellope."

Vanellope smiles and the group heads to the Warehouse. As the group walks to the Warehouse, Josh pulls out his staff and uses it as a cane. Each time he puts it on the ground walking towards the Warehouse, a small bolt shoot outs. Since from the rain that poured earlier, small rain puddles are now everywhere. As Josh steps his foot into the puddle and quickly lifts it up, a small electric charge shoots out and stays in the puddle for a second. Josh repeats this process a few times without his knowing. He steps in another puddle and Vanellope quickly walks in it, she quickly feels the shock in the puddle.

"OW!" Vanellope screams

Everyone spins around and looks at Vanellope. Josh narrows his eyes and walks towards Vanellope.

"What's wrong Vanellope?"

Vanellope shakes her body feeling the shock going away.

"I don't know, something felt weird."

"What felt weird?" Josh asks stepping in the puddle again

Josh steps in the same puddle again and Vanellope feels the shock.

"WHOA!"

Vanellope jumps back causing her to literally glitch away. Josh looks around and sees Vanellope just…gone.

"Vanellope?"

Everyone looks around and finally Vanellope speaks up far away.

"I'm over here!"

Josh and everyone looks to the far right and sees Vanellope running towards everyone.

"Vanellope…what happened?" Josh asks putting his hands up

Vanellope runs and stops several feet away from Josh breathlessly. She looks back up and points.

"YOU."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Me?"

"You're shocking me to death!"

Josh blinks and looks down. He sees the small puddles of water and the small electricity moving through them. Josh nods his head.

"Oh I see…the puddles from the rain earlier is sending out small currents of my electricity from my feet. I'm glad that I'm not getting shocked from it." Josh says rubbing his head

"Well stop it! It hurt!"

Josh shrugs.

"What do you want me to do Vanellope? I can't clean all the puddles of rain everywhere. Look, there everywhere!"

Everyone looks around and notices the puddles everywhere. They look at Josh knowing if they step in the puddles, his electricity will shoot out hitting them.

"Every time you walk in a puddle, you'll shock one of us." Vanellope explains

Everyone has that idea run through their mind. Josh rubs his eyes and looks around.

"Don't tell me your all nervous now about the puddles…', Josh blinks and just complete dead silence, 'Guys?', suddenly, everyone backs up far from Josh, he spins around seeing everyone is feet away from him, 'Are you serious?', sighs slowly, 'You guys are ridiculous…it's electricity! You all have a little bit from it when you were all plugged in your games! It's IN you!" Josh yells walking to the warehouse

The group follows Josh keeping their distance. Josh walks up to the massive doors and looks back.

"Ralph, do you mind?" Josh asks pointing at the door

"Yes I do."

Josh blinks and slowly turns around. He sees Ralph just standing there and Josh just…shakes his head.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Josh grabs the handles and slides the massive door. He kicks it and looks around into the empty warehouse inside. Josh waves his hand telling everyone to move in.

Warehouse 14…

Everyone enters the Warehouse and just sees darkness and complete silence all around. Vanellope looks back and sees the door still open. She rushes to it and quickly closes it SLAMMING it hard and everyone jumps. Josh points his staff, Plague holds out her sword, Calhoun aims her gun, and Ralph clenches his fists. Vanellope turns around and sees everyone in battle mode.

"What? I just closed it…"

Josh sighs slowly and everyone relaxes. He turns around and walks further into the warehouse. Everyone follows Josh as he walks further in. Josh twirls around his staff between his fingers and suddenly…

_**Josh…**_

Josh stops and looks around. Everyone sees Josh just standing still looking around. He rubs his ear and looks around.

"You guys hear that?"

Josh turns around to walk back to the group, but suddenly his foot gets pulled back far behind him and Josh implants himself into the floor.

"WHOA!"

Josh hits the ground hard smashing his face into it. The group goes 'oooh' seeing Josh's slip. Josh slowly raises his head feeling his nose in pain.

"I'm so glad….my face broke my fall…"

Josh grunts really and stands up.

"Josh, are you okay?" Elizabeth asks

Vanellope quickly looks at Elizabeth and back at Josh. Josh sighs slowly putting his hands on his back to balance himself. But suddenly, Josh begins to shake and everyone sees. Everyone watches as Josh for some reason moves his hand behind his coat reaching for his pistol. Josh begins to show expressions of confusion and struggling, like some force is making him move on purpose.

"Uhhh….guys…?" Josh asks

Everyone sees Josh slowly raising his gun and…pointing it at everyone.

"Josh what are you doing?" Calhoun asks getting a worried face on

Josh throws his other hand to stop his hand from rising but this force that's moving his arm keeps moving it.

"Guys! Get back!"

Everyone sees Josh pointing his gun at all of them and he open fires. The group jumps out of the way as a powerful bolt hits the spot where everyone was at. Josh continues to struggle and suddenly the force that was making him do that lets go. He feels his body again and looks around.

"The hell? I can feel my body again." Josh says looking around

Plague looks pissed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Josh looks back.

"It wasn't me!"

"Oh so another 'Josh' just shot at us." Plague asks

Josh shakes his head.

"Plague, guys, I'm telling you it wasn't…"

TK starts to laugh and his laugh echoes through the warehouse. Everyone looks spinning around trying to find TK. Josh puts his gun away and picks up his staff.

"TK!"

Josh aims his staff up and fires up at the darkness of the warehouse. A bolt fires and creates a certain amount of light for a few seconds. Everyone looks in the darkness and doesn't see TK. Josh fires another bolt making some light hit the dark places. He spins around trying to find TK, but doesn't see him. Josh walks ahead back to the group. Back up at the ceiling, TK flies around and sees Josh. TK's flying is complete silent. You can't hear him. He looks down and knows which one is Josh; he flies straight at him without a single person knowing. As Josh walks back to the group, he hears that same voice from he heard earlier.

_**Behind you!**_

Josh spins around and sees TK flying at him with his disc blade in his hands.

"WHOA!"

Josh slides out of the way and TK lands on the ground with his back turned to the group. He quickly spins around seeing TK finally.

"What's the hell's the matter with you!?"

TK laughs throwing his head up.

"I love playing games!"

Josh shakes his head.

"I do to but I don't play them like that."

TK chuckles.

"Well my fun's over. What are you doing here?"

Josh flinches.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here TK?"

"Cyrus told me he'd meet me here."

Josh smiles and begins to laugh. TK notices.

"What's so funny?"

Josh reaches in his jacket and pulls out his phone.

"I'm laughing at the message 'you' sent me to meet 'you' here."

TK narrows his eyes.

"I didn't send you a message."

Josh looks at the message.

"It has your name on it."

"I didn't send you no message!"

Josh points.

"Exactly! Cyrus set you up TK! He sent us two messages to bring us together."

TK shakes his head.

"Cyrus told me he would meet me here."

"Cyrus has been controlling you from the start! Just like his husks! You're just his puppet TK!"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" TK yells waving his hand

As TK waves his hands around angrily, wind pushes back everyone but Josh stands his ground.

"He set you up…he's the one PLAYING you."

TK starts to struggle thinking about that idea. Josh sees TK very frustrated.

"You hate him now?', TK looks at Josh, 'You're not the only one.', points at Plague behind TK, 'That's Plague. Cyrus's daughter. She knows you a little. Say hi Plague.', TK turns around and Plague salutes to TK, TK just shakes his head, 'She joined us. So can you."

TK looks back at Josh and sees him serious about the offer. TK blinks and snickers.

"Join? You?"

Josh nods.

"If Cyrus's own daughter will fight, why not one of the Five huh?" Josh asks smirking

TK thinks about the offer and bobs his head. Josh holds his staff firmly waiting for any kind of surprise. TK looks back at Josh and shakes his head.

"Nah, I'll pass."

Josh sighs slowly.

"You do realize there are more of us then then are of you, right?"

TK turns his head around and sees the group behind him. There is obviously more of them to only being TK by himself. TK looks back at Josh and looks hard at him.

"I see them…but to even the odds, I hope you don't mind if I do this…"

Josh narrows his eyes and suddenly TK waves his hand at the group and literally throws them back. Josh flinches and jumps.

"HEY!"

Again TK waves his hands up and spins in circles. Josh keeps close eye on TK and slowly sees some kind of force field appear around the two to keep anyone from coming in. Calhoun and Plague are the first ones up. They run to where TK and Josh are but as they think they're going to strike TK with his back turned, they run into an invisible wall and smack up right against it.

"Ow!" Calhoun says

"Son of a! The hell was that?!"

Calhoun points her gun at TK and shoots. The bullet bounces off and now everyone sees there's a field around Josh and TK so they can be alone. Josh turns around and touches the field with his staff. On the inside, you can clearly see the field unlike from the outside. Josh looks back at TK.

"What are you doing?"

TK shrugs his shoulder.

"So we can be alone and have no one disturb us."

Josh and TK begin to walk around in circles staring hard at each other.

"TK…." Josh says shaking his head

"I don't care of TK is 'setting' me up. He may think I'm a moron', Josh rolls his eyes, 'But I'll show him that I can take care of you. He's going to take care of you sooner or later."

"He has, but has not succeeded. As you can obviously see."

TK starts laughing.

"You think you're a step ahead of him? You're wrong, he's miles ahead of you."

"I don't care TK. I'm stopping Cyrus. The Five or whatever. And that even means, YOU."

TK smiles really funny, without knowing or seeing from Josh's perspective, TK floats out his disc blades and they light up.

"Then let's see then…Hero."

Josh narrows his eyes and TK flies out his disc blades and Josh dodges them.

"WHOA!"

The disc blades bounce off the walls of the room the two are in and TK catches them, or stops them floating them around him. Josh stands back up and wipes off his pants.

"All right, my turn."

Josh points his staff at TK and fires a powerful bolt. TK flies up and avoids the shot.

"DAMMIT!"

The bolt hits the wall and flies all around the room. TK just flies around avoiding the bolt Josh fired. Josh ducks, slips and slides to avoid his own shot. He rolls out of the way as the bolt slowly starts to ease up and evaporate. The group outside bang on the wall to get Josh back on his feet.

"Josh get up!" Vanellope yells

"He's coming!" Elizabeth shouts

Josh gets up and sees TK throwing his disc blades. But the second Josh spins around, he sees one of the disc blades coming and it grazes him on his arm hard.

"OW!"

Josh holds his cut as the blades go back to TK. TK just watches as Josh holds his right arm tightly. Josh looks at his arm and sees the cut. He looks hard at TK. TK covers his mouth.

"Oooooh…did that hurt Hero?', Josh looks pissed off, 'Maybe you should just quit."

Josh gets angry and his electricity starts coming out of his body without his control. TK holds his disc blades firmly and Josh spins around his staff and attacks TK. The two use their weapons to try and hit each other, Josh swings his staff down and TK catches it with his disc blades holding them together. The disc blades grind against each other making a spark. TK pushes Josh back with his hand and Josh quickly spins around, hits TK hard in the face and the two separate for a second.

The group outside watch as the two quickly look back at each other. TK floats his disc blades up and Josh watches carefully. He throws the blades at Josh and he holds his staff like a baseball bat. The first disc blade comes and Josh hits it so hard and the two watch it bounce around the room. Josh hits the other one and it falls straight down on the ground before him. TK points his hand at the other disc blade and makes it come back to him.

Josh bends down and picks up the half broken disc blade. He stares at it and sees the sharpness from it as it spins around. Sparks jump out a little and Josh looks at TK who only has his only working blade. Josh looks back at the blade in his hand and sees it half working. He focuses his current out of his hand and it gets sucked into the blade. The blade spins really slowly and suddenly it spins like it should be. Josh looks really hard at TK and TK does the same.

"Fine then."

TK throws his disc blade really hard and Josh watches it being thrown at him. Josh deflects the disc blade with his disc blade in his hands.

"Ah!"

The force pushes Josh back a bit and TK makes his comeback. Josh nods.

"Okay…"

Josh spins around really quickly and throws his disc blade hard at TK. TK watches as the blade flies right at him. He jumps up in the air and spins around as the blade flies right below him and back at Josh. Josh catches it and TK lands back on his feet as Josh spins the blade around.

"Show off…"

TK looks at his single blade in his hand and smiles funny at Josh. Josh takes notice of the look TK is doing and TK then holds his disc blade with both hands. He narrows his eyes and suddenly, TK manages to pull out two disc blades from the single one he had in his hands.

"What the?!" Josh yells

TK chuckles and Josh looks down at his. Josh tries doing the same thing as TK but nothing happens.

"Oh come on, that's cheating!"

TK spins around and throws both blades as the same time. They bounce off the walls in the room and Josh looks at both of them.

"Whoa!"

Josh slides backwards and backs up into the wall. He looks the other way and sees the other one coming.

"AH!"

Josh crawls away as the disc blade spins away. Vanellope runs up alongside of the force field banging on the wall trying to get Josh's attention.

"Josh! Move! Move!"

Josh looks to his side and sees Vanellope yelling and trying to get his attention. Her voice is completely gone. Nothing can be heard outside. Josh shakes his head just seeing Vanellope act like some sort of mine without her voice.

"I can't hear you Vanellope!"

And outside the force field, as Josh talks, Vanellope can't hear Josh either.

"What? I can't hear you!"

Josh rolls his eyes. He gets up and attacks TK. TK deflects and pushes Josh back. He just has fun with Josh pushing him back making him get nowhere close to him. Josh sees what TK's doing. Any time Josh tries to get close to TK, he simply pushes him back. Josh suddenly gets an idea and uses that to his advantage.

Josh runs at TK and he just waves his hand to push Josh away. TK spins around his disc blades and they fly around Josh. Josh sees what TK's doing and sees that's exactly what he wanted TK to do from the very start. Josh watches as TK's disc blades fly around him and waits for the right second. TK then pushes his hand towards Josh making the disc blades fly right at him. Josh looks and sees one disc blade coming right at him. Everyone outside the field watches as Josh waits for the disc to come to him, Josh looks at TK and runs at the disc which cuts him hard at his stomach.

"AH!" Josh yells grabbing his stomach

The group outside watches and sees Josh holding his stomach tightly seeing the inflicting damage he took. TK catches his disc blades and watches as Josh falls down to his knees and lands on his side. Josh slowly closes his eyes and TK just watches.

"Took a while but I got the job done."

Everyone watches and looks down at Josh who's not moving. TK slowly approaches Josh with now one disc blade in his hand since he combined them. Everyone watches helplessly as TK gets closer and closer to Josh. TK stands directly behind Josh to finish him off. Vanellope gets up really close to the field and watches helplessly as TK is about to strike. TK lifts his disc blade up for the final strike. The disc blade spins loud and Josh opens his eyes. TK strikes down and Josh rolls away as TK slams the disc into the ground and sparks fly everywhere. The group outside jump seeing Josh was okay the entire time.

"JOSH!" Vanellope yells

Josh spins away and gets up on his feet. TK struggles getting his disc blade out of the ground as it stays stuck. Josh runs and tackles TK hard and he lands on the ground. Josh rolls away from TK as he continues to lie down on the ground. He pulls out his disc blade and jumps on TK and the two struggle with the disc blade right between them.

TK holds Josh's hand with the disc blade in it. Josh uses all his strength to push down the blade to TK's body. Everyone outside yells towards Josh to finally finish TK for good. Josh grunts and groans as he gets the blade really close to TK's face. TK sees the blade an inch off. He gets serious and pushes it away. TK looks off to the side and sees his blade still stuck in the ground just a few feet from him. So TK uses his other hand and points it at the disc blade. TK uses all his energy and focus to pull out his blade to hit Josh.

Josh sees what TK is trying to do and pushes down hard. TK starts to see his blade slowly getting out of the ground. Josh pushes the blade down towards TK's chest. TK finally manages to pull out his disc blade and it flies at his hand and he catches it.

"YOU'RE DEAD!"

Josh grabs TK's other hand and holds his disc blade back. Josh is losing his strength and finally, just does something he doesn't want to do. Electricity shoots out of Josh and into TK, but still touching him, the current jumps back to Josh and he feels the shock hitting him a bit. TK gets the disc blade a bit close to Josh and he pushes it away. Josh then head butts TK getting him dazed for a split second, then, Josh throws down the disc blade and right into TK's body.

Josh keeps the blade stuck into TK's chest as everyone outside watches. TK jumps and sputters feeling his body slowly giving away. Josh looks at TK's hand with his disc blade in his hand. He looks and finally, TK drops his blade. Josh looks and sees TK not moving at all. He looks down and sees his disc blade stuck inside TK's body. Suddenly the field around goes away and the group notices. Josh bends down and pulls out his blade. He looks at the strange goo that's on the blade.

"The hell's that?" Josh asks walking away

Josh looks up ahead and walks to everyone. He puts the disc blade to his side and it sticks to his belt. The group and Josh approach each other. Suddenly, TK's body falls apart and forms into codes. They spin around and point directly at Josh's back. The group walks to Josh and see the light of codes behind him. They stop walking and Josh notices something on all their faces.

"What?"

Josh sees a strange light appearing before him and slowly turns around. He covers his eyes and sees the strange bright light.

"Now what the hell is that?"

Suddenly the white light of codes fly straight at Josh and he tries to run away.

"WHOA!"

But as Josh runs, the white light of codes engulf him and lift him up in mid-air. Josh screams at the top of his lungs feeling something is happening to him.

"HELP! ME!"

The group staggers around Josh trying to pull him back down, but suddenly his electricity shoots out of him causing them to jump back. Josh screams at the top of his lungs feeling like something is being 'pulled' out of him. The group just watches helplessly seeing Josh being put through this terrible ordeal. Josh's electricity shoots all over the place creating a bright light. Then suddenly, it all ends. Josh's body falls to the floor and lands face first on the ground. The group sees that the ordeal is over and rush to Josh. Vanellope is the first one to reach Josh.

"Josh! Josh!', looks closer, sees Josh not responding or moving at all, 'Someone help!"

Josh is not breathing. His eyes are no longer bright blue, his eyes are just dark. Like nothing at all is inside him. Elizabeth sits down next to Josh.

"Let me see. Let me see."

Elizabeth flips Josh over and everyone sees his lifeless body. She puts her ear to Josh's chest where his heart is and hears nothing at all. Elizabeth jumps up.

"His heart isn't beating!"

The group turns worried. Elizabeth places both hands on Josh's heart and presses down. She presses down hard each time to somehow revive Josh. The group waits patiently to see if their friend will wake up. Inside Josh's mind, he lies around in a dark room and slowly wakes up.

"Mmmm….uhhh…"

Josh finally opens his eyes and looks around. He sees nothing but darkness all around. Josh stands up and walks around.

"Hello?"

Suddenly E.D.I. walks up behind Josh.

"Hello Josh."

Josh jumps.

"Whoa! E.D.I.! How…what? What is this?"

"Uploading Complete."

Josh just looks completely lost.

"Wha? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly a single bolt of lightning floats in mid-air behind Josh. He turns around and sees it. E.D.I. approaches it and Josh just stares at her.

"Go on. Access it."

Josh narrows his eyes wondering what E.D.I. means by 'access'. He slowly walks to the bolt and sees it just floating there. Josh slowly looks at his hand and goes to grab it. As Josh touches the bolt, it shoots up and around the dark room. Josh grabs his head feeling strong pains coming from it. E.D.I. suddenly vanishes and Josh falls to the ground.

Back inside the Warehouse…

Elizabeth continues to try and revive Josh and still no success. She slowly starts to give up and suddenly, Josh's eyes light up bright blue and gasps at the top of his lungs jumping up. Elizabeth and everyone jumps back and see Josh up and about breathing heavily. Elizabeth tries to comfort Josh and gets him to calm down.

"Josh. Josh!"

Josh gulps and looks around.

"What, What happened?"

"Some light struck you and passed out." Calhoun explains

Josh looks up at Calhoun and narrows his eyes.

"I passed out?"

"Don't you remember?" Vanellope asks

Josh feels his head and stares with a lost look on his face.

"Can someone help me up please?"

Elizabeth and Vanellope nod and help Josh up. Josh gets lifted up slowly and everyone just stares. Elizabeth keeps close preparing incase Josh falls.

"Easy now…"

Josh pushes Elizabeth away.

"I got it Elizabeth."

Josh takes a step forward and looks where TK's body is supposed to be. He stops exactly where his body is supposed to be and doesn't see it there anymore.

"What happen to TK's body?" Josh asks turning his head around

Elizabeth shrugs.

"It was right there. Now it's gone."

Plague rolls her eyes.

"Obviously."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Josh sighs slowly and flinches.

"You hear that?"

Everyone looks around. Josh rushes to the doorway to the Warehouse and everyone follows. Josh looks out through the small windows, so does everyone else. Everyone looks out the windows and see that the Warehouse is surrounded.

"How the hell did they find us?" Plague asks

Josh gets serious.

"Who else. Cyrus. He's playing on all sides." Josh answers

"What are we going to do?" Elizabeth asks

Josh blinks wondering what to do.

10 minutes earlier…

Outside the Warehouse District…

F.B.I. SUV's come up to the gates of the Warehouse District and crash through the gates. Winter watches as he's the first SUV to make it in. He pulls in the center of the District and instructs all teams to secure a perimeter around Warehouse 14.

"Okay, I want all teams to surround the Warehouse. Sniper team, along the roofs of these warehouses. Park the trucks in a dam like formation. Incase Litwak comes out this way; he's surrounded and has nowhere to go. Remember, killing is a last resort. We want to take him alive. If he resists, then we shoot. Move out!"

The teams go to their positions. Winter walks to the SUV he came in and stands alongside it. Suddenly a bright flash goes off inside the Warehouse Josh is in and Winter sees it.

"The hell…', puts radio up to mouth, 'Stay focus! He's in there, no matter what happens; Josh Litwak is not getting out of our hands!"

The teams blink waiting for a response from inside the Warehouse.

Back inside the Warehouse…

The group looks out and sees all the sirens and search lights aimed at the Warehouse. A spotlight shines directly at Josh and he covers his eyes.

"And this place is definetly surrounded." Josh says rubbing his eyes

"We can take these fools." Plague says

"You wouldn't be able to swing your sword." Elizabeth explains

"Were going to have to fight are way out, what else do you expect princess?!"

Josh narrows his eyes really hard and rubs them.

"Oh man…"

Josh puts his head up against the glass. Elizabeth notices Josh in pain.

"What's wrong?"

Josh shakes his head.

"I…I don't know…my head is throbbing. My heart is beating like crazy something…I feel like something's building up inside me and I…I can't contain it." Josh explains

"Your chest might be hurting from it not beating a couple minutes ago."

Josh's eyes shoot open after hearing that. He doesn't look at Elizabeth but slowly starts to sweat.

"Are you telling me that my heart wasn't beating when I blacked out?"

"Yes."

Josh gulps and shakes his head.

"I was actually dead…"

"Josh…"

Josh groans and holds his stomach. He bangs his hand on the glass and everyone sees.

"Josh? Josh what's wrong?" Elizabeth asks watching Josh carefully

Josh breathes heavily and his eyes start to hurt. He spins around acting like a nut.

"I can't, I can't…', gulps hard, 'I can't breathe…"

Everyone watches Josh carefully.

"Josh?" Vanellope asks

Josh holds his face really hard and looks ahead. Inside his mind, he feels like he can escape it. Josh slowly looks around wondering what is happening to him.

_What…What's happening to me?_

Josh's 'outer' body literally floats outside the warehouse and Josh can see the layout of how the law enforcement is set up.

_I…I can see them…but…how?_

Josh floats higher and sees that the entire Warehouse District is surrounding the warehouse everyone is in. There's no way anyone can leave here without getting hurt, arrested or worse: riddled with bullets. Josh's 'outer' body comes back to him and he jumps as he reenters his body. He shakes his head feeling his body back.

"Okay, what was that?"

"What's wrong with you Josh?" Calhoun asks

Josh shakes his head and walks back to the door.

"We are surrounded. You guys cannot go out there."

"You plan on going out there or something?" Ralph asks

"There after me, not you."

"Josh you can't possible handle all of them out there." Elizabeth states

Josh stops at the door and takes a deep breath.

"I'm a ticking time bomb guys…', everyone just watches Josh, 'I feel like I'm about to explode any second. I don't want any of you near me when I go off."

Josh slides open the doors and rushes out.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Everyone stays back inside and hides in the darkness, watching their friend Josh go out ahead of them.

Outside the Warehouse…

Winter sees Josh advancing right towards the center of the dam. All the men raise their guns and aim them at Josh. Josh stops walking and covers his eyes past the bright lights that are shining him. Winter grabs a microphone.

"JOSH LITWAK! YOU ARE SURROUNED! GIVE YOURSELF UP AND THIS WILL NOT TURN VIOLENT!"

Josh chuckles softly and shakes his head. He reaches back for his staff and all guns get cocked. Winter grabs his gun.

"DO NOT MAKE A MOVE! YOU ARE SURROUNED! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND SURRENDER! AND ALSO, PUT DOWN YOUR CANE!"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"It's…not…a….CANE~!"

Josh throws his hands up and suddenly a powerful lightning strike hits before Josh and all the men jump. He blinks slowly and sees the massive hole that was made by the lightning bolt, he thinks he caused.

"Did I just do that?"

Josh looks at his hands and feels something building up inside him. Winter shakes his head and puts the microphone back up.

"THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! SURRENDER NOW OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"

Josh lifts his head back up and looks at Winter hiding behind the SUV. He smirks funny and Winter sees.

"Why's he smiling?"

Josh then begins to spin around his staff really hard. None of the men open fire but wonder what Josh is even doing. Gusts of wind start to blow everywhere when Josh is spinning around his staff. The wind gets tougher and stronger and the men wonder what's happening. Josh then spins around in circles, and unleashes a powerful tornado storm which fires lightning bolts from all around.

"HOLY SHIT!" Josh screams

The men open fire but get consumed by the tornados wind and get pushed back. The SUVs get thrown around and Winter glues himself to the ground as the SUV he was standing behind gets lifted up and thrown away. Josh holds his staff firmly and feels what was building up inside him.

"Phew…I really had to let that go…"

Josh looks down at his chest and sees laser dots on him. He looks up and sees the sniper team still on top of the other warehouses.

"Great…"

Josh ducks and the sniper team fires. He points his hand and suddenly a n electric shock bullet proof field pops up before Josh and he sees.

"Huh?! Oh hell yeah!"

The snipers look through their scopes and fire, but the bullets get stopped by his field and Josh looks down his staff.

"This might hurt, remember, you were shooting at me!"

Josh looks down the end of his cane and fires a bolt at the sniper team. They get struck, but not hard enough to make them a vegetable for the rest of their lives, just enough to knock them out. They'll be sore, but alive. Just when Josh thinks all the sniper teams have been taken care of, one remains. Josh turns around and sees the group slowly walking towards him, seeing the destruction he causes all by himself.

"Hey guys.', the group is absolutely speechless, Josh rubs his head, 'Lost for words?"

"More like lost for a sense." Plague says

"You did all this?" Felix asks

Josh chuckles.

"Well I had something building up inside me. I just released it, I feel a lot better now."

The group just shakes their heads seeing what Josh did to just 'feel better'. Back on the Warehouse rooftop, the sniper looks through his scope and aims at Josh's back head.

"Let's get out of here before more come. I've done enough destruction for the night."

"I can agree to that." Elizabeth says

Josh snickers and the sniper turns on his red laser sight. Elizabeth catches eye of the small red dot. The dot moves and Elizabeth sees it aimed at Josh.

"Josh. Josh!"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What?"

Elizabeth points.

"Behind you!"

Josh turns his head around and sees the red dot sight. He looks down and jumps.

"WHOA!"

But as Josh jumps, he flies in the air and the sniper sees.

"What the!?"

Everyone looks up.

"JOSH!" Vanellope screams

Josh tries to get control of his new found ability, flying.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Josh flies up higher and looks down at the ground.

"Okay…okay, okay, okay, okay, okay! You flew around in Game Central Station, you can fly in the real world! It shouldn't be that much of a difference!', Josh looks down at the ground and sees he's really high up, 'WHOA!"

Josh falls straight down and his friends panic. He eases his descend and falls slowly back down. Back with Winter, he shakes his head and gets his composure back.

"Uuhhh! The weather man…said nothing…about tornadoes…"

Winter rolls on his front and looks ahead. His vision is a bit blurry. Winter blinks some more and gets his vision back. Suddenly he sees Josh fly and land in front of a certain group of people.

"Did I just…', shakes head, 'No. No way…"

Josh carefully lands and spins around.

"I can fly now…I don't know how but for some reason I believe TK has something to do with this."

"You can fly now huh?" Plague asks

Josh nods with a smile.

"Shall I do it again?" Josh asks like he's preparing to lift off

Plague shakes her head. Josh spins around and just feels like there's more power in him since he blacked out.

"Well, these guys are taken care of.', looks around, sees no one moving, 'Let's head back to the cars and back to the fact…"

"LITWAK!" Winter screams

Josh turns around and everyone looks. He sees Winter, limping his way pointing his gun at him. Josh shakes his head.

"This guy does not give up does he?"

"Shall I take care of him?" Plague asks

Josh puts his hand up.

"No. I'll take care of him. You all head back. It's time to get this Winter guy off my back finally."

Calhoun takes notice of what Josh said. Josh walks away and Winter for some reason chases after him. He looks back and sees everyone still there.

"Guys! GO back! I'll meet up with you later! Go back to the factory!" Josh orders running away

The group looks amongst themselves and leave. Back with Josh, he gets chased by Winter who fires a warning shot.

"Stop!"

Josh rolls his eyes and barges in into another Warehouse. Winter checks it out and slowly walks into the Warehouse Josh is in.

Other Warehouse…

Winter walks in, gun drawn carefully searching the Warehouse for Josh. He comes up to a corner and pops out. Nothing. Winter continues on. And Josh's precise locations is on the rafters of the ceiling of the Warehouse. Josh carefully floats to it and grabs hold of the rafters.

"Okay…there. Now…where are you Spring?" Josh says looking around

Josh scans the lower level of the Warehouse. It's like a giant maze full of shelves that cover every part of the Warehouse. Josh shakes his head and looks closer, finally spotting Winter looking for him.

"Ah…there you are Winter."

Josh carefully drops down and lands several yards behind Winter. Back with Winter, he continues to search. Suddenly a metal pipe drops behind him and he turns around gun drawn on edge. Winter sees it was just a metal pipe and sighs in relief.

"If you're trying to scare me Mr. Litwak, you're going to have to do a better job."

Josh rolls his eyes and carefully sets down the other pipe. He grabs his staff on his back and aims several feet in front of Winter. Josh fires a small bolt which hits in front of Winter. Winter jumps seeing the lightning bolt in front of him. He just shrugs it off not believing what he's seeing.

"You think a little light show is going to scare me? Huh!? You may scare others. But let me remind you, 'Josh Litwak'. Everyone out there sees you as the Terrorist."

Josh bites his lip seeing Winter is trying to get under his skin. He flies down and lands right behind Winter. Josh grabs his pistol, and the only thing that makes a sound in the Warehouse, is Josh's gun which he cocks. Winter freezes and shuts his eyes.

"Shit…"

Josh points his gun at Winter and he slowly raises his hands.

"Can I turn around?"

Josh shrugs.

"If you want."

Winter slowly turns around and sees Josh pointing a gun at him.

"Listen to me Josh, right now it's an arrest warrant after you. You kill me if will change to a death warrant. The second the law sees you they will open fire."

"Thanks for the info. But I'm not going to kill you Agent Winter."

"Really?" Winter asks with a surprised look on his face

Josh nods.

"Yeah. If I wanted you fried I would've done it already. It's not my style."

"Right. Your style is more towards getting young kids sick."

"I'm not responsible for that."

"My reports say you are."

"There wrong."

"My reports don't lie."

"YES THEY DO!"

Josh almost loses it and Winter shakes his head.

"Your no different than any other scum that I've captured."

Josh takes a deep breath and remains calm. He looks back at Winter still pointing his gun at him.

"Let me ask you something, 'Agent Winter'. How did you know that I was going to be here tonight? Hmm?', Winter blinks and looks down, 'To my knowledge, there's only three people who knew. Myself, TK and yet and behold, Cyrus."

"Who?"

"Winter. Tell me, who told you that I was going to be here tonight?"

"I don't reveal my sources."

"He didn't give you his name didn't he?"

"I don't reveal my sources! Especially towards Terrorists like you!"

Josh gets pissed and electricity shoots out of his body. Winter steps back and Josh just holds his gun firmly.

"He's playing you Winter. Just like he's playing me. He blames me for all his doing and you're just following orders right? I am right, right? You won't stop chasing me will ya?"

"It's my job to capture you."

"I see."

A moment passes by and Josh just looks at the gun he's holding in his hand.

_I got enough problems on my hand. I can't have this guy perusing me if Cyrus is just toying with him to capture me. Cyrus knows Winter's after me. And he also knows one of two things…Winter will either capture me or I'll have a dead federal agent on my hands. If I can just put him out of the way long enough for me to focus on the task at hand. Things will go easier for me. But if I do that, I'm no better than Cyrus just putting someone out of the way and using them to my will. I could just walk away and deal with Winter then. But I can't but help think this might be my only chance to take care of Winter…what am I going to do?_

Josh turns his gun and stares the side of it. He looks back at Winter still seeing him holding his gun. Josh sighs slowly and puts down his gun.

"Word of advice Winter: If you plan on pursuing me, it's going to be more trouble than it's worth. I thought I let you know."

Josh turns around and walks away. Winter sees Josh just simply walking away. He points his gun at him.

"Freeze!"

Josh stops and closes his eyes. He rubs his face and shrugs.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Put your hands up now." Winter orders walking towards Josh

Josh stays forward knowing Winter is coming up behind him. As Winter walks forward, Josh hears the sound of his footsteps hitting into a small puddle. Josh smirks and looks down. He sees he's standing right before the puddle Winter is walking in. Josh shakes his head.

"This is going to hurt…just a little."

Winter continues walking forward and Josh, steps back. His electricity shoots out of him and right towards Winter.

"AH!"

Josh doesn't look and shocks Winter a bit. He steps out of the water and Winter falls on his back. Josh looks back and figures Winter is still alive, but really sore.

"I told you didn't I?"

Josh walks ahead and exits the Warehouse.

Outside of Warehouse…

Josh walks out of the Warehouse and looks at the mess all around. He puts his hands to his sides and looks down at his feet.

"I've always wanted to say this…', looks straight up and throws arms up, 'To infinity, and BEYOND!"

Josh jumps up and flies straight up.

"WOO-HOOO~!"

Josh flies up so high he reaches the clouds hovering in the sky. He spins around in circles. Does a few tricks and gets the hang of his new found ability.

"This is awesome!"

Josh floats up and stays still for a moment to catch his breath. He looks around and sees the world around him, below him. Just, all around him. Josh then leans forward and flies straight home.

The Factory…

The group enters the Factory and none of them see Josh anywhere insight.

"He's not here." Elizabeth says

"He'll come. He said he would." Vanellope says

"Well what's taking him so long?" Plague

The group walks right in the training area of the Factory that they cleaned out. They all stand below a bunch of windows that the moon lights through.

"He'll come. Knowing Josh, he's doing something right now to blow off some steam." Calhoun states

"Oh yeah, like what?" Plague asks

"Uhh…showing off?" Ralph asks

"Sounds right." Felix answers

"He'll be here. While we wait, let's just go back up to the…" Calhoun begins to say

Suddenly Josh crashes through the windows of the ceiling and everyone looks up. Glass shards fall and everyone jumps out of the way as Josh lands hard on the ground keeping himself to the floor. Everyone sees that it's just Josh. Josh slowly stands up and wipes small pieces of glass off his clothes.

"I love making an entrance."

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Vanellope runs to Josh and he picks her up.

"Hey! Wait long?"

"We just got here too."

Josh looks at everyone.

"Hey guys."

"Where were you?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs and sets Vanellope down.

"Checking out the East Coast. Now that I can fly, I never imagined how cool it is to just go from one state to another."

Calhoun shakes her head. Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"Want to go for a quick ride?"

Vanellope blinks and nods happily.

"Yeah!"

Josh grabs Vanellope's hand and throws her on his back.

"Okay…hold on."

Everyone watches and Josh lifts off and flies around the room. Everyone watches as Josh flies around the room with Vanellope on his back. Vanellope throws her hands up.

"Faster Josh!"

"I'm going as fast as I can in this small room!"

Josh does some circles as Vanellope holds on. Ralph claps his hands.

"Way to go Josh!"

"Woo-hoo! Way to go brother!" Felix shouts

Josh glides along the floor and flies into the air. He spins around in circles making Vanellope drop to the ground.

"Josh!"

Everyone jumps seeing what Josh just did. Josh just smiles and flies straight down to catch her.

"Got ya!"

Ralph, Felix and Calhoun sigh in relief. Josh lands close by and sets Vanellope down.

"Want to go again?"

Vanellope fixes her hair and looks up at Josh bobbing her head.

"Yeah!"

Josh laughs and looks at everyone else.

"Anyone else?', Ralph, Felix and Calhoun don't say anything, Josh sees, 'No?', looks at Plague and Elizabeth, 'How about you two ladies? Care for a ride on Litwak Airlines?"

"I can already fly." Plague states

Josh narrows his eyes.

"No you can't. You just… 'swooosh' or something. That's not flying."

"You want to bet?"

"Sure I'm up for it."

Suddenly Plague swooshes away. Josh looks around.

"Where'd she go?"

Plague whistles and everyone looks up. Plague is on the rafters on the ceiling of the Factory.

"I got up here quicker!"

Josh salutes and fires a small bolt at the metal rafters.

"Yeah, you did."

The bolt hits the rafters and Plague feels a slight shock.

"Ah!"

Plague swooshes and everyone laughs. Josh shrugs.

"She may be faster but…I'm quicker."

Plague reappears alongside Josh.

"Want to say that again?"

Josh blinks and flies ahead of Plague.

"Any time Plague, anywhere. I always win."

Ralph, Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope take notice of that. Josh slowly sighs and looks at the time.

"Look, it's been a really long night. Killed one of the Five. I almost DIED. And gained some new powers. I'm going upstairs and going to bed." Josh says walking out of the Factory

The six look amongst each other and decide to follow Josh up.

Josh's Apartment…

Later that night…

Josh tries to sleep in his room but can't for some reason. He keeps tossing and turning in his bed and just for some reason feels like he can't fall asleep. Josh sighs really hard and gets up.

"This sucks…"

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks out of his room quietly and looks around. He sees everyone asleep in their usual spots. Josh shakes his head and walks past Ralph who is just lying on his back on the floor. Ralph snores loudly and Josh covers his ears.

"Jeez Ralph…put a sock in it."

Josh sees Vanellope sleeping on his stomach sound asleep. He wonders to himself how she can even sleep in the first place. Josh makes it to one of the windows near the work station and looks out the window. He stares out at the night town before him and sighs softly. Behind Josh, Elizabeth walks out and softly yawns. She turns her head and sees Josh up as well.

"Can't sleep either?"

Josh blinks and slowly turns around. He sees Elizabeth and smiles.

"I'm too wide awake to even sleep."

Elizabeth walks to Josh quietly.

"I can only imagine. What happened to you tonight."

Josh feels his chest.

"It felt weird that's for sure."

Elizabeth walks ahead and stands on the other side of the window in front of Josh. The two look out the window and Josh finally says something.

"He kept calling me Hero."

Elizabeth turns her head at Josh.

"Who?"

"TK. He kept referring me as Hero from the game."

"Why would he do that?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know. I have his powers so I can see why he would call me that.', sighs slowly, 'But that's not who I am. Right now I'm either one of two people."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Josh gulps and looks down.

"I'm afraid that this world is changing me."

"How would it change you?"

Josh shrugs.

"The people here either see me as 'The Terrorist' or 'White Lightning'. Mostly the Terrorist.', Elizabeth nods, 'And right in the middle, is me. Josh Litwak."

"Only you can figure out who you are Josh."

Josh nods.

"I know that. That's why if this stuff keeps up, I'm worried I'll forget myself and lose it."

"You won't lose it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you didn't give up fighting TK. He may have died, and almost you', Josh looks down, 'But you came back."

"I still can't believe I died."

"Only for a few seconds."

"For you maybe, but to me, it felt a lot longer."

"Did you see anything?"

Josh tries to think.

"I remember seeing E.D.I. She's a part of me so I fully didn't understand how she was just…there in my mind. It was like she was helping me wake up again."

"Be glad that you're here now again with us."

Josh nods and looks out the window. Elizabeth sees the reaction on Josh's face.

"Josh?', Josh turns his head, 'Are you afraid of dying?"

Josh blinks hearing that question. He looks back out the window and looks serious.

"No."

Elizabeth blinks.

"Why?"

Josh shrugs.

"As a human I know someday I'm going to die. I just don't know when it will happen. But I'm not afraid of it. It…kind of happened to me before. I…I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because I still feel what I did right here', Josh taps the part of his chest he shot himself that one time, 'I really don't want to talk about it Elizabeth."

"Okay. Okay."

"It's nothing personal Elizabeth."

"No I understand. I have no right to ask you personal questions like that."

Josh rubs his face.

"You have a right Elizabeth…it's just up to me to say it or not." Josh says walking away

Elizabeth watches Josh walk away.

"Josh."

Josh stops and turns around.

"If you're not afraid of dying, are you afraid of Cyrus?"

Josh stands there for a moment and thinks about the question. He looks away and looks back.

"That answer is still up for debate.', Elizabeth nods, 'Goodnight Elizabeth." Josh says walking away

Elizabeth nods.

"Good night Josh."

Josh walks to his bedroom and Elizabeth looks back out the window.

End of Chapter 21…

Preview of Chapter 22…

With TK out of the way Josh still tries to get a handle on his new found abilities. Understanding that Cyrus has an entire army Josh understands that he might need more people on his side. So a quick trip at the Arcade proves to a shocking trip. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 22 – To Die Then to Be a Husk


	22. Chapter 22 - To Die Then to Be a Husk

(I apologize Readers for the long wait, I've had a lot going on my mind. I'll be soon be doing something very important and I won't update very soon. I apologize. Once I'm better, I'll upload again very soon.)

Chapter 22 – To Die Then to Be a Husk

Josh's Apartment…

Following Morning…

Elizabeth exits the bathroom and yawns.

"Ooh…what a night…"

Elizabeth walks out into the living room area and sees everyone asleep. She nods and spots Josh underneath the TV and slumped over. Elizabeth narrows her eyes and walks on over towards him. As Elizabeth gets closer to Josh, she sees him not moving at all with his eyes closed.

"Josh?"

Elizabeth touches Josh's shoulder wondering if he's even asleep. But as she does, Josh doesn't respond at all.

"Josh." Elizabeth says more firmly

Elizabeth starts to shake Josh and his lifeless body doesn't move or respond at all. She starts to panic and thinks that…he might be dead.

"Josh? Josh!"

"HEY!" Josh yells

Elizabeth narrows her eyes hearing that Josh just yelled, but she was looking right at him. His voice is coming from somewhere else.

"Over here!" Josh yells

Elizabeth turns around and sees everyone still asleep. You can hear Josh sigh hard and bangs on the TV window.

"Over here! In the TV!"

Elizabeth turns around and sees Josh on the TV waving. She flinches seeing Josh there and his lifeless body below the TV.

"Josh? How…How did you…"

Josh puts up one finger.

"Hold that thought, I'm almost done."

Josh finishes up what he was doing with E.D.I. He nods at her and looks up.

"Eject me E.D.I."

E.D..I. nods and a bright flash goes off the screen. Elizabeth looks away covering her eyes. Josh's body twitches and begins to get the feeling of his body back. Elizabeth looks back and sees Josh stretching his arms.

"Oh boy…that was shocking.', looks up and sees the lost look on Elizabeth's face, 'Hey Elizabeth."

Josh sighs slowly getting the feeling back in his body.

"Josh?', Josh looks back up at Elizabeth, 'How were you inside the TV?"

"Same way as I connect myself to the video games at my families Arcade.', Josh explains reaching for the exposed wire, Elizabeth watches and Josh brings out the exposed cord, 'I connect this to my head and ZAP!', Elizabeth flinches, 'I'm right where I'm supposed to be."

"Does it always work."

Josh nods and stands up.

"Yep."

Josh then walks away. Elizabeth watches.

"Can anyone else do that?"

Josh stops at the Kitchen and thinks about what Elizabeth just said.

"I…I don't know. I never really gave it any thought about anyone else doing it. Besides it's highly dangerous. Someone could perhaps die."

"You didn't."

Josh makes a face and shrugs.

"Well I'm different. How I did it was a…fluke. Nothing more then a mere accident that I discovered."

Elizabeth crosses her arms.

"Huh…"

Josh opens the refrigerator and looks in it.

"Want something to eat?"

Elizabeth nods.

"Sure."

"What do you want?"

Elizabeth sits down.

"Something cold."

Josh freezes and turns around. He sees the look on Elizabeth's face and shakes his head.

"You serious?"

"Quite."

Josh blinks and shrugs.

"Okay."

Josh opens the freezer part of the fridge and picks up frozen waffles. He grabs a plate and sets the frozen waffles down on the plate. Josh then slides it in front of Elizabeth and she stares at it.

"There you go. Frozen waffles to go."

"Thank you."

Josh can't but help watch Elizabeth eat frozen waffles for breakfast. Elizabeth looks up and sees Josh just staring. She diverts her eyes and looks back at Josh.

"What?"

Josh gulps and crosses his arms.

"Why Paris?"

Elizabeth blinks and shrugs.

"Why not Paris?"

"It's a nice country and everything but…', Elizabeth waits to hear what Josh is about to say, 'It's an odd place to just want to go, right?"

"It's a beautiful place. From what I read I've always wanted to go there."

Josh nods.

"I see."

Josh looks over at the TV and narrows his eyes. Elizabeth looks and sees Josh staring at the TV and back at him.

"What?"

Josh gets up and walks over to the TV.

"Come over here for a second."

Elizabeth gets off the stool and follows Josh over at the TV. Josh flies over Ralph and Elizabeth walks around him. Josh rummages through the pile of junk and finds another wire like the one he uses to transport himself into his hard drive.

"This should work."

"What should work?" Elizabeth asks

Josh walks back to the TV and cuts the wire enough to expose the wires. He connects it to the hard drive and sees the sparks fly showing that its live. Josh then looks back at Elizabeth.

"Come over here."

Elizabeth walks over towards Josh and sits down. Josh hands her the other exposed wire.

"Take this and do exactly what I do."

Elizabeth just watches as Josh places his head back on the exposed wire and jumps. She gulps seeing Josh just suddenly slump down like he did before. Elizabeth blinks wondering what just happened to Josh.

"Josh?"

Josh taps on the glass.

"Over here.', Elizabeth looks and sees Josh now inside the TV, 'Sit down and lean your head back into the wire."

"And why should I do that?"

Josh drops his head and sighs.

"Will you stop asking me numerous questions and do as I say?"

Elizabeth smirks.

"That's a question."

Josh gets a little annoyed and bangs on the glass.

"Just do it!"

Elizabeth jumps and sighs.

"Fine, fine."

Elizabeth pulls her ponytail in front of her and sits down next to Josh. She stares at the exposed wire and sees where Josh has it. Elizabeth places the wire behind her head, she closes her eyes and places it on her head.

Inside the Hard Drive…

Elizabeth keeps her eyes shut and Josh walks up to her. Josh looks at E.D.I. as she nods showing she's connected. He nods and looks back at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth."

Elizabeth slowly opens her eyes and blinks. She looks around at all the darkness all around and the one light shining above them.

"What is this place?"

"It's my Hard Drive…"

"Where inside your Hard Drive?"

Josh looks around.

"Yep."

Elizabeth looks around even more.

"There's nothing around."

Josh smiles and walks away.

"Not yet there isn't."

Elizabeth looks and follows Josh.

"What do you mean by that?"

Josh smiles and looks up.

"E.D.I.? Layout of Paris please."

"Yes Josh."

Elizabeth looks around and suddenly the darkness all around fades away and sections of an actual layout of Paris shows up around Josh and Elizabeth. Empty streets appear and the Eiffel Tower shows up in the distance. Elizabeth looks around shocked and confused seeing Paris around her.

"Are we in Paris?"

Josh shrugs.

"Kind of."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Kind of?"

"It's not actual 'Paris'. You're in a set up that looks like Paris. Kind a like a game level."

Elizabeth looks lost at Josh and turns around. She walks up to a tree and touches it, but her hand goes right through it as if it were a hologram or something. Elizabeth looks back at Josh.

"It's not real isn't it?"

Josh shrugs.

"What is real Elizabeth? Behind the screen or in front of it? Something you know of can be real, but is it real behind the screen?"

"What do you mean?"

Josh points behind Elizabeth and she turns. As Elizabeth turns around, she sees a little boy playing in a nearby park.

"Who's that?"

Josh walks to Elizabeth.

"My brother. Jason."

Elizabeth turns at Josh.

"Josh, I'm, I'm so sorry."

"In front of the screen he's dead. But behind it, here, I can just think of him and there he is."

"But it's not real."

Josh looks down.

"In a way I agree with you, but…', Josh looks up at his brother playing, 'I can't but help disagree with you just a bit."

Josh then looks serious. He makes Jason disappear and Elizabeth sees. Josh then creates Cyrus and Elizabeth sees him.

"Josh?"

"Don't worry, he's not real remember?"

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. Josh approaches Cyrus and just makes him stand perfectly still. He looks up at him and starts walking around him.

"I can't but help think that Cyrus is still in me."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Still in you?"

"I was infected with the virus before, haven't I told you?', Elizabeth just stands there, Josh shakes his head, 'Well I was. And it sucked. I felt so terrible. I didn't even know how Cyrus infected. He must have scratched me or something. But the way I saw him infect someone in the matter of seconds. It must be horrible."

"It wasn't a pleasant thing to see."

Josh scuffs.

"We can agree on that…and the worst thing about it…you just don't feel yourself slipping away. You also feel being used…"

"Is that what it felt like?"

Josh looks down.

"It wasn't right that's for sure. I felt my body being controlled by Cyrus. My eyes changed color. My body was erupting from the inside out…I still have scars from when it happened…"

Elizabeth covers her mouth.

"Josh…I'm, I'm sorry."

Josh shrugs.

"Truth be told, I would rather die than to be Cyrus's husk."

"You don't mean that."

Josh looks back at Elizabeth.

"Yes I do Elizabeth. You'd probably say the same thing if you were slowly turning into a husk…', Elizabeth looks away, Josh sighs slowly and looks up, 'E.D.I…send us out."

"Right away Josh."

Josh and Elizabeth are sent out of his Hard Drive.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's and Elizabeth's body still perfectly still for a few seconds and suddenly they wake up. He cracks his neck and stands up. Elizabeth on the other hand is still getting the feeling back in her body.

"Whoa…', Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth out of it, 'I feel strange…"

"It will pass. It's your first time."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Josh lends down his hand and Elizabeth sees it. Elizabeth takes it and Josh pulls her up.

"Congratulations."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"For what?"

"For being the second person I know who just got 'uploaded' into my Hard Drive."

Elizabeth sort of smiles and Josh turns around. Josh sees everyone still asleep. He shakes his head and looks back at Elizabeth. Elizabeth shrugs and Josh looks back at everyone.

"I once told them that they can never sleep…now look at them…"

"Shall I wake them up?"

Elizabeth steps forward and Josh stops her. Josh smiles funny.

"I have a great idea."

Elizabeth tilts her head seeing Josh is up to something.

"Josh…"

Josh walks ahead and looks back.

"Don't worry…it won't be hurt.', Elizabeth nods, 'I think."

Elizabeth quickly looks back at Josh. Josh walks to Calhoun and Felix. Felix sleeps on Calhoun's chest plate and sees them snuggling and sleeping together. Josh smiles and points at how cute they look.

"Aww…look at this…where's my camera when I need it?"

Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

"I can take a picture Josh if you'd like."

Josh looks up.

"I was just kidding E.D.I., besides I hope Calhoun doesn't kill me when I do this.

"Josh." Elizabeth says shaking her head

Josh looks back at Elizabeth.

"Don't worry; I'm just going to play a little…mind trick."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes. Josh looks back down and sees Felix just sleeping soundly. He looks at his hand and some sparks fly out. Elizabeth watches as Josh touches Felix's back and shoots out some sparks. Felix twitches but doesn't wake up. Josh closes his eyes and basically control's Felix's movement. Elizabeth watches as Felix moves up and places his head on Calhoun's face. Josh snickers trying to control his laughter. Calhoun moves her face away and looks the other way.

"Felix…not…not now…" Calhoun says half asleep

Josh covers his mouth and laughs. Calhoun moves her head back up and Felix rubs his face against Calhoun. Elizabeth bites her lip seeing it kind of funny. Josh makes Felix kiss Calhoun and she moans.

"Mmmm…" Calhoun says

Josh jumps looking the other way. Calhoun puts her arms around Felix still half asleep. Josh looks back and sees what Calhoun's doing. He looks at Elizabeth and laughs.

"Watch this. HA!', Elizabeth shakes her head, Josh looks down at Felix and Calhoun and gets closer, 'Yoo-hooo…Calhoun?"

"Mm?"

"Wakey-wakey…"

Calhoun opens her eyes and sees what Felix is doing. She moves her eyes up seeing Josh right behind Felix, making him do what he's doing. Josh just smiles and waves with the other hand.

"How's a good morning kiss sound from your dear old husband?"

Calhoun narrows her eyes really hard and pushes Felix.

"JOSH!"

"WHOA!" Felix shouts

Josh laughs and runs for it. Calhoun hops over the couch and chases Josh. Vanellope and Ralph wake up and Ralph looks up. Ralph looks up seeing Felix flying in the air. Felix falls down and Ralph catches him.

"Oooh! Thanks Ralph."

"Felix, what's going on?"

"Hmm?"

"JOSH!" Calhoun yells

Everyone turns and sees Calhoun chasing Josh. Josh on the other hand is laughing and just dodging Calhoun's attack.

"Come here!"

"No thanks! HA, HA!"

Calhoun screams and charges at Josh. Josh just flies up and Calhoun goes into the elevator. Everyone looks up and Josh looks down.

"Close. But not close enough."

Calhoun walks out of the elevator and look hard up at Josh.

"Get down here, NOW."

Josh waves.

"No thanks."

"NOW!"

"I don't see what you're so mad about Calhoun, I did you a favor."

"How was that a 'favor'?"

Josh shrugs.

"You woke up to him kissing you, I'd call that a homerun anyway. Especially to the married couple like yourself."

Calhoun sighs and looks at Felix. Felix takes off his hat just standing there watching. Calhoun looks up at Josh.

"Would you want to wake up like that and see something like that first thing in the morning?"

Josh thinks for a moment and shrugs.

"Well I don't know. A man has never really kissed me when I was sleeping."

Calhoun shakes her head.

"You are impossible."

"But you have to admit I'm pretty predictable."

Calhoun rubs her face. Josh slowly floats down and lands in front of Josh.

"No hard feelings?"

Calhoun shakes her head.

"No."

Josh looks surprised.

"Really? Then you will stop attacking me?"

Calhoun nods.

"No."

Calhoun launchers herself as Josh and he ducks. As Calhoun spins around, Josh takes out his new weapon, the disc blade he got off of TK. Calhoun sees it and sees the blade lights up spinning showing it's ready to cut anything it touches.

"You still have that thing?"

Josh nods.

"Pretty nice weapon don't you think? I had E.D.I. fix it last night as we all were sleeping.', looks at the side of it, 'Cuts through anything like paper."

Calhoun crosses her arms.

"Uh-huh…"

Josh looks at the wall beside the elevator. He looks at Calhoun with his eyes and suddenly throws the disc blade into the wall. Everyone flinches as the disc blade cuts through the wall and spins around in a circle against it avoiding the pictures. The disc blade comes back to Josh and he catches it.

"See? Anything like paper."

Suddenly the wall that Josh cut with the disc blade falls forward and everyone jumps. Calhoun just looks at the mess and back at Josh.

"Now you have this mess to clean up."

Josh makes a face at Calhoun and looks back at the wall he cut. He narrows his eyes seeing there's something back there.

"The hell?"

Josh walks over the fallen wall and everyone follows. He lights up the disc blade making a light. Josh looks around and finds numerous rooms/offices of the building. Everyone looks around.

"What is all this Josh?" Felix asks

Josh shrugs.

"Office's I believe. I didn't even know this was back here. I thought they were all downstairs in the lower levels."

"Nice home you got here Josh." Calhoun says

"Will not yet, but I think I found you guys some living quarters."

Everyone looks at the back of Josh's head and Josh turns around.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth asks

Josh crosses his arms.

"Or do you guys prefer to sleep in my living room while you live here?"

The group looks around and just sees dust, garbage and darkness all around. It's not really livable yet, but some cleaning, home repairs, and reminders of home. The gang can live better here.

"Come on; let's go back to my home in which you all live in…for now."

Josh heads back to his Apartment and everyone follows. Back inside Josh's Apartment, Josh tosses his disc blade on the counter and walks around it.

"Anyone up for some breakfast?" Josh asks opening the fridge

Everyone settles in around the contour. Felix looks at the disc blade and picks it up.

"How is it that you can fly all of a sudden?" Felix asks

Josh looks back and pulls out some eggs and a pan.

"Oh yeah…I had E.D.I. run a scan on me and it turns out that I have TK's codding 'written' in my DNA."

"How is that possible?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs.

"I guess when he struck me in the Warehouse and I…'died' for a few minutes…I guess his coding 'uploaded' into me or something."

"It's different seeing you do things you couldn't do once before but only did it inside Game Central Station." Vanellope states

Josh thinks for a moment and realizes that.

"Yeah…I guess so Vanellope."

"That sound sweet."

Josh shrugs.

"Thanks Vanellope. Well now I can fly. That seems to even up the odds up from what were up against."

"What did you do to those men last night?" Ralph asks

Josh gulps.

"Huh?"

"I thought I've seen it all but you took down those men quickly."

Josh smirks.

"When you mix a powerful tornado with electricity you get a pretty good storm."

"What happened with you and Winter?" Calhoun asks

Josh cracks the eggs and starts frying the eggs.

"I took care of him."

The gang looks at one another and Josh looks back. Josh sees the looks one everyone.

"He's still alive. He stepped into a puddle which I was in and well…you can imagine the rest."

"He's going to be a problem isn't he?" Elizabeth asks

Josh flips the eggs.

"He is. But I let him go."

"Why?" Elizabeth asks

The four look at Elizabeth. Josh turns around.

"I had the chance to take him out of the equation. Cyrus led him there and used him to supposedly 'capture' me.', sighs slowly, 'Right now I'm starting to regret that I didn't do anything to take Winter out."

"You really don't mean that." Calhoun says

Josh shrugs.

"Well that's the thing about my world Calhoun, once an opportunity presents itself that's really your only chance to do something about it. I highly doubt that I'll have another chance to run into Winter like that again anytime soon."

"And why's that?" Ralph asks

Josh turns around with the eggs.

"Because him and I had our guns pointed at each other and it wasn't exactly on a happy note."

Josh sets down the eggs and everyone stares at it.

"Everyone dig in."

"Is this it?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks at Vanellope.

"Sorry Vanellope. Nothing sweet today. I have hardly anything to eat and share with you all anyway. Besides I'm out of Root Beer."

"What are you going to do about it?" Calhoun asks

Josh flinches.

"What am I going to do about it? Calhoun, in case you forgot, I can't go anywhere public. The second someone sees he, they'll scream out, 'Oh look! There's the Terrorist!'. I can hardly go outside as it is."

"Then what then?"

Josh smiles and turns around. Everyone watches as Josh grabs a piece of paper and starts writing on it. A couple seconds pass by as Josh finishes the grocery list. Josh turns around and hands it to Calhoun.

"You're going grocery shopping."

Josh slides the paper in front of Calhoun and she stares at it with her eyes. Calhoun looks back up at Josh with her eyes only.

"You can't be serious."

Josh shrugs.

"What a loving wife like yourself Calhoun should do, buy some groceries for the big family that your stuck with."

"Should do?" Calhoun asks narrowing her eyes

"It should be a piece of cake. You kill Cy-Bugs for a living I don't see the problem of you doing a little grocery shopping."

"I will not do this."

Calhoun slides the piece of paper back and Josh snickers.

"Yes you will."

Josh slides the paper back. Calhoun sees and pushes it back.

"No I won't."

Josh sighs softly.

"Calhoun….', Calhoun looks back at Josh, 'As long as your living here. In my HOME, which I've lived in longer than any of you. You will do as I say."

Calhoun crosses her arms.

"Oh really?"

Josh leans forward and looks serious at Calhoun.

"This is either going to happen in one or two ways. You do it on your own free will, or I make you. Your choice. Because as long your living in the real world, it's time for you to accept that you're in no longer Game Central Station. Can any of you agree on that?', Ralph, Felix and Vanellope agree onto that idea, except Calhoun who stands her ground, 'Because whether you like it or not Calhoun. Your stuck here, and your going to obey by the rules of the world."

"Rules of the world?"

"In order to survive here, you need to go down to the grocery store to buy supplies that we all need. Now, I can't. Will you do it or not?"

A moment passes by. Calhoun looks hard at Josh and he does the exact same. She sighs slowly and takes the note.

"Find then."

Josh smiles.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?', Calhoun makes a face, 'Why don't you three go with her incase she needs help."

Now Calhoun makes a really hard look at Josh. Felix points at himself.

"You want us to go?"

"Sure. You need to see the world more when were not all fighting Husks and Cyrus. Call it a learning experience, you know?"

"But what are you going to do?" Ralph asks

"Stay here, work out a bit. Check out some new powers and whatnot."

"What about her?" Vanellope

Elizabeth turns her head at Vanellope who's pointing at her and not looking at her. Josh narrows her eyes.

"Her? You mean Elizabeth Vanellope?"

Vanellope shrugs.

"Okay…"

Elizabeth looks confused at Vanellope. Josh looks at Elizabeth.

"Wouuld you like to go with them Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth looks back at Josh.

"No thank you I'm good. I would really like to stay."

Josh shrugs.

"Okay."

Vanellope looks back and forth.

"Then I'll stay too."

"Vanellope?" Josh asks

"No need all four of us to go right?"

"You sure Vanellope? There's a lot of candy at the grocery store that has your name on it."

"Candy?" Vanellope asks shockingly

"Yeah…you ate all mine here. Got to get more."

Vanellepe struggles for a second and shakes her head.

"No. I'm…I'm good."

Josh blinks.

"Okay. The three of you can go then.', Josh reaches in and grabs some money, 'Here's a hundred bucks. Stick to the list and you'll make it out alive."

Calhoun takes the money.

"Is a grocery store that dangerous?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No. But when a video game character for the first time in their life exits their game and ventures out into the real world and has no clue to how it all works, some things can possibly go wrong."

Calhoun makes a face as the three head to the elevator. The other three watch and go down. Josh yawns and the two girls look back at Josh.

"Well that was tiring. Arguing with Calhoun is such a drag."

"Maybe you shouldn't have joked around with her."

"But it was funny." Vanellope says smiling

Elizabeth looks down at Vanellope.

"No it was not."

"To me it was."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Josh sighs and walks back towards his room.

"I'm going down into the Factory for a bit. Come along if you like."

(Same time)

"Sure."

Elizabeth and Vanellope look at each other hearing they said it at the exact same time.

The Factory…

Later…

Josh throws a bolt like a baseball and it hits the wall on the far side of the room. He rubs his right shoulder from the numerous throws from throwing before hand. Josh takes a breath and spins around.

"Just a few more."

Josh runs ahead and spins around to create speed. He chugs the lightning bolt in the distance and it explodes. Josh smiles happily.

"Yeah…."

Josh continues this routine a few more times. Off to the side, Elizabeth and Vanellope watch. They both have their arms crossed, just watching Josh not even to bother to look at each other. Josh jumps in the air and flies around. The two look up and watch Josh. Josh lands back on the ground, spins around and gets back up on his feet. He twirls his staff around and throws it on his back. Josh looks at the two and sees the towel right between them.

"Could one of you hand me my towel?"

(Same time)

"Sure."

Elizabeth and Vanellope both grab the towel and struggle holding both ends of it.

"I got it Vanellope."

"So do I."

"Josh needs it."

"I know. So let me give it to him."

"I got it Vanellope."

"Nope. I got it."

The two struggle with it some more and Josh hears the struggling. He turns around and sees the two pulling on the towel. Josh rolls his eyes and walks on over. The two continue to struggle hard with the towel and they get more annoyed by the other.

"Let! It! Go!" Vanellope screams

"You let go!"

"No!"

As the two pull really hard on it. Josh comes right in and tosses it up with his staff and the two let go. They watch as it flies in the air and lands back down on Josh's hand. Josh wipes the sweat off his face and looks at the two.

"Thank you. BOTH of you."

The two make strange faces and Josh sets the towel back down.

"Remind me to bring more then one next time so were not arguing over who gets to bring me a towel next time, huh?"

"I'm sorry Josh." Elizabeth says

"Me too."

"No apology needed, I just didn't expect I'd see that happen that's all."

Josh sighs slowly and turns around. Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"Expect to see what?"

Josh smiles and turns around.

"The struggle between two video game characters."

Elizabeth and Vanellope turn heads and look down and up at each other. They look back at Josh as he turns around. But as Josh walks away, his face changes to smiling to looking like he realized something.

"Struggling…"

"What?" Vanellope turns around

Josh stops and slowly turns around.

"Struggling…"

"What about it?" Elizabeth asks

Josh slowly looks at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, you don't think Cyrus is still bring enemies from the game do you?"

Elizabeth blinks with a lost look on her face.

"From the game?"

"Think about it, were always fighting husks. Cyrus is infecting people with his virus but it could it be possible that he can still be getting reinforcements from his game?"

"Yes, but how is that possible?"

"It's his world, he can bring anything through. Like the Five, his daughter. You.', Elizabeth gulps, Josh rubs his chin, 'Anything else can come through that door he opened to escape."

"So what are you saying?" Vanellope asks

Josh snaps his thumb.

"We have to close the door then."

"What door?" Elizabeth asks

"The game."

"What game?" Vanellope asks

Josh gets annoyed.

"_Cyrus the Virus_."

"Where is it?" Elizabeth asks

Josh flinches to hearing another question.

"The Arcade. Its still on. There always on."

"The Arcade? You're going back?" Vanellope asks

"Just to make sure nothing else comes through, yeah."

"Now?" Elizabeth asks

Josh rubs his twitching eye slowly.

"Yes. Now Elizabeth."

"I"ll come with."

"Me too."

Josh looks back at the two.

"I can only take one of you. Motorcycle…"

"Take me. I know my way around." Vanellope says

Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"But I can help fight incase husks come up."

"But I drive better."

Elizabeth looks down at Vanellope.

"This is not up for discussion Vanellope. We need to think this logically as possible."

"Keep using words I don't know, I'm going no matter what."

"Vanellope." Elizabeth says

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Ladies?"

The two continue to talk to each other over who's going with Josh. Josh rubs his eyes and finally just speaks up.

"Ladies!', the two look at Josh, 'We really arguing who's going with me?"

Elizabeth and Vanellope look up and down at each other and back at Josh.

(Same time)

"Yes!"

Josh flinches. He sighs slowly and looks back at the two.

Garage…

The three walk to the car and Josh hops in the driver's seat. He shuts the door and just as Elizabeth opens the passenger door, Vanellope glitches in the seat and she flinches. Vanellope looks up at Elizabeth with a smiling face.

"Beat ya."

Elizabeth tilts her head narrowing her eyes. Josh turns and shakes his head.

"Vanellope…"

"What? I did win."

"Josh?" Elizabeth asks

Josh points back.

"Just get in the backseat."

Elizabeth nods and crawls over and gets in the backseat. Josh looks down and fixes the rearview mirror.

"Put your seatbelt on."

Vanellope slides the seatbelt down and Josh pulls around. The three exit the Garage and towards Litwak's Arcade.

Streets…

Later…

Josh drives the speed limit obeying all the rules so he doesn't attract any unnecessary attention. He fixes the rearview and turns it to Elizabeth who's sitting in the back seat. Elizabeth raises her hand with the bandages wrapped around her right hand. Josh gulps seeing the look on her face seeing her hand with the bandages over it. Vanellope turns her head and sees Josh looking funny.

"What's wrong Josh?"

Josh snaps out of it and looks back at the road.

"Nothing. Nothing. Everything's fine."

"Liar."

Josh rolls his eyes and Elizabeth looks up ahead.

"I meant, everything's fine now. Besides everything else that's going on, we are far from it."

"Will stop Cyrus. You know we will." Vanellope states

"I know Vanellope."

"But you think it's safe to go back there?" Vanellope asks

Josh shrugs.

"Your guess is as good as mine Vanellope."

"I didn't get a chance to see my game the first time we got out."

"Well, now's your chance Vanellope."

"This is going to be sweet."

Elizabeth leans ahead.

"We still should proceed with caution."

Josh looks back.

"Absolutely. That's why I have BOTH you here.', the two look at Josh, 'I got my wheel 'woman' and my ice princess."

The two roll their eyes to Josh's comment. Josh looks ahead and sees the street there on.

"And where here."

The two look as Josh pulls into the Parking Lot of Litwak Arcade. He pulls up to the front door parking spots and the three get out. The three slowly approach the door and the first thing Josh sees is the police caution tape wrapped around the door. Josh blinks and looks back at the two.

"Are you kidding me?"

The two watch Josh as he pulls out his disc blade and cuts the tape with it. Josh reaches in his pocket and pulls out the keys to the Arcade and unlocks the door.

"Come on."

The three walk in and see nothing but darkness all around.

Litwak Arcade…

The three enter the Arcade, and Josh is just…destroyed.

"My God…"

The Arcade looks like it's been ransacked. The games are still plugged in, but the consoles are nearly destroyed and the screens are all cracked. Josh gulps and slowly walks further in. Vanellope just looks around all confused.

"What…What happened?"

Josh clenches his fist and looks serious.

"Cyrus."

Vanellope walks to Josh.

"But how…isn't he out of…"

"His game is still plugged."

Josh stops. Elizabeth and Vanellope look and see the only game that has not been touched, is _Cyrus the Virus_. Josh shakes his head and sees the obvious story here.

"We were gone for so long his game attacked all the other ones."

Vanellope looks worried.

"Wait…does that mean…"

Josh and Elizabeth look down at Vanellope.

"Vanellope…"

Vanellope runs off and the two chase after her. Vanellope runs around the Arcade looking for her game. Josh and Elizabeth look for Vanellope calling out her name.

"Vanellope? Vanellope!" Josh yells

Josh and Elizabeth look around and come around the corner. They both stop and see Vanellope…staring at her games console.

"Oh no…" Josh whispers

Vanellope stares at her game console which is cracked and completely fried. She climbs up on the seat and sees some of the lights of the game flickering on and off. Josh and Elizabeth look at each other and Elizabeth nods. Josh blinks and goes over to the seat Vanellope is sitting down on. Vanellope grabs the steering wheel watching the screen flicker. Josh kneels down and sees the terrified look on Vanellope.

"Vanellope?"

"It's…gone…"

"Vanellope."

"Everything's gone."

"No it's not."

Vanellope blinks quickly.

"Am I the only one who can see all this? Look at my game Josh! It's destroyed! Cyrus destroyed my game!"

"He destroyed your game but didn't destroy your character.', Vanellope just blinks, 'And if I know the characters of this Arcade. They all have to be in one place that's safe."

Vanellope blinks and realizes.

"Game Central Station."

Vanellope jumps off the seat and Josh guides the two to the surge bar. Josh pushes the game consoles to the side and sees the surge bar.

"Say hello to 'Game Central Station'."

"This is it?" Vanellope asks

"Yep."

"This, is, IT?" Vanellope asks with a strange face

Josh chuckles.

"Yes Vanellope. This is Game Central Station. A lot smaller in person don't you think."

"Uh, yeah."

Josh goes to unplug all the games out from the surge bar. Vanellope notices and stops Josh.

"Josh what are you doing?"

Josh looks back.

"I'm unplugging all the games."

"But everybody else in the games though."

"If you know them as well as I do then we both know that there inside the station."

"But they'll die."

"Their games are lost. All we can do now is save the characters themselves."

Josh goes back to unplugging all the games out of the surge bar. Vanellope looks back as each one gets shut off for good. Elizabeth watches and looks down seeing the look on Vanellope's face.

"Josh is right. You have to know this is for the best."

Vanellope looks up and gives off a look to Elizabeth. Elizabeth sees the look and Josh follows the cord of the surge bar to the wall.

"Now…I unplug the surge and take it home with us."

"Wouldn't that cut the power to the surge bar?" Elizabeth asks

Vanellope looks worried and Josh looks back.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

As Josh unplugs the surge, his electricity from in himself keeps the surge connected. Josh stands up and shows off he's keeping power to the surge bar.

"See? Shocked and ready to go."

Elizabeth and Vanellope shake their heads. As Josh walks ahead, the sound of the front doors of the Arcade open. The three look in the direction.

"Someone's here."

"Husks?" Elizabeth asks

"Maybe…Vanellope get behind…', Vanellope gets behind Josh, but, 'Elizabeth."

Vanellope's face just drops as Josh walks around a game console. He peeks around and sees someone enters the Arcade. Josh continues to hold the surge bar; he reaches back and grabs the disc blade. He hears the footsteps coming closer. Josh gets serious, the disc blade spins and Josh jumps out.

"AH!"

"HEY!" Tommy yells

Josh spins around almost cutting Tommy's head off. Tommy falls backwards and lands on the ground. Elizabeth and Vanellope run out to see who it was. Josh looks down and sees that it was Tommy.

"Tommy?!"

Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth and Vanellope behind him. He quickly pushes them back to hide their presence and Tommy looks up and sees its Josh.

"Josh?"

Josh looks at the disc blade and quickly puts it away. He bends down and helps Tommy up.

"What are you doing here Tommy?"

Tommy fixes his clothes and looks up at Josh.

"I can ask you the same thing… 'White Lightning'."

Josh narrows his eyes.

Josh's Apartment…

Plague suddenly swooshes her way into Josh's Apartment. She looks around and doesn't see anyone insight.

"Hello? Anyone home? The hell is everyone?"

Plague walks to the Kitchen and opens the fridge to find nothing insight.

"Saving the world and not enough time to eat anything. Dammit…"

Plague closes the door. She walks around the room and spots the giant hole in the wall.

"Now what the hell is that?"

Plague holds out her sword wondering what's the room from the hole in the wall. She walks to it slowly and peeks her head in. Plague walks into the random rooms of offices and sees nothing but junk, crap and dust all around.

"What a shithole."

Suddenly a step is heard. Plague hears it and turns around. She sees something moving about inside the hallway she's in.

"Hello?"

Plague slides out her sword. The figure starts to come into view and Plague swings her sword.

"Really?"

Litwak Arcade…

Josh and Tommy talk to each other. While Elizabeth and Vanellope wait. Josh nods.

"So let me get this straight…you've been coming here every day hoping this place was open?"

Tommy nods.

"Yeah."

Josh shakes his head.

"Why?"

"I love this Arcade.', Josh nods, 'But after what happened with you and your parents. I was wondering what was going to happen to this place."

Josh sighs slowly.

"Well with my current situation Tommy, I'm not surprised to see this place closed."

"Closed? This place looks like it was run over by a truck. What happened?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know Tommy. A villain gone horribly wrong."

"Huh?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Nothing."

"And one more thing.', Josh looks back at Tommy, 'What's happening to my friends Josh?"

Josh gulps.

"Tommy…"

"Did you have something to do with it? Like the news says?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Don't always believe what you hear on the news Tommy."

"Then who's responsible?"

"Cyrus."

"Cyrus?"

"Yeah. Cyrus the Virus."

Tommy blinks.

"You mean the game?"

"No. The actual character."

"How can he be responsible?"

"Because he did it."

"But that's impossible."

"No it's not Tommy."

"A video game villain can't be responsible for what's happening."

"It is Tommy!', Tommy flinches and Josh calms down, he kneels down in front of Tommy as he looks at Josh before him, 'Tommy listen. Remember when I said that the video game characters are more alive than you think?', Tommy nods, Josh shrugs, 'Well it's true."

"You serious?"

"More than ever."

"I think being wanted has messed with your head a little."

"You think I'm lying?"

"Josh, I believe video game characters are real enough but unless they were standing right in front of me then I would believe you."

Josh sighs and shrugs.

"Your right Tommy. Your completely right."

Josh sits back on the chair. Tommy scratches the back of his neck.

"I've seen you fight on TV.', Josh looks back at Tommy, 'Is that also a lie or is it real?"

"Which part?"

"You know…', pretends to throw a lightning bolt, 'That thing you do like _Infamous_."

Josh smirks. He throws his hand out and Tommy watches. Josh snaps his thumb and a spark of electricity shoots out of his hand. Tommy flinches.

"Whoa! That…that was…"

"Shocking?"

"Surprising!"

Josh shrugs.

"How did you suddenly get electricity powers?"

"Someone gave them to me."

"Who?"

"Hero."

Tommy blinks and narrows his eyes.

"Hero…you mean from…"

Josh nods.

"That's right."

Tommy rolls his eyes.

"Yeah. Right. I forgot. Okay…I just have one more question for you Josh."

"I'll try to answer Tommy."

"Those things that you fight."

"The husks?"

"Yeah, those…they look so human and when anyone else fights them, they seem useless but when you fight them it seems like a piece of cake for you."

"I have something the authority figures don't."

"True. So those husks things. What are they?"

Josh sighs slowly.

"Husks were once people Tommy.', Tommy blinks to hearing that, 'People who were just like you and me before Cyrus turned them. Infecting them with his virus and having them under his control."

"Huh…if what you're saying is true then I'm glad I never got infected."

"Be happy for that. You don't want to turn into a husk."

"Why's that?"

"Because you would rather die than to be used as a puppet Tommy. Trust me. I know. I…', gulps hard, 'I almost became one."

Tommy flinches to hearing that.

"You serious?"

Josh rubs his face.

"It was horrible."

"What did it feel like?"

Josh looks at his hands.

"You just…feel yourself slipping away. You can't move. You can't think. Everything besides knowing your losing yourself. It's…not good Tommy."

"Huh…"

Josh sighs slowly and looks around.

"Look…can I trust you not to report me to the police or tell anyone I came here?"

"Who would believe me?"

"Tommy."

"I won't tell anyone. Besides, it's not every day I meet an actual Hero."

Josh smirks.

"I'm no hero Tommy. Just a guy doing what's right."

"Sounds like a hero to me."

"Yeah, well, that's where the similarities end."

Tommy jumps off the seat and walks to the exit. Josh watches and suddenly Tommy spins around.

"You know what would be cool?"

Josh lifts his head up.

"Hmm?"

"If what you say is true. About…video game characters being 'alive' more than they are…then maybe you should ask them to help you fight Cyrus."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Help me fight Cyrus?"

"Yeah…there's a lot of them out there. It's your choice to choose who will help you…wouldn't you agree?"

Josh stands there for a second and thinks about that idea. Tommy spins around and leaves. Elizabeth and Vanellope hear the door open and close and get up. They walk behind Josh who is just lost.

"Josh." Vanellope says

Josh doesn't say anything.

"Josh. We have to go." Elizabeth says

Josh finally snaps out of it.

"Huh? Oh yeah…hold on one second."

Josh walks around the game consoles and slowly walks up to _Cyrus the Virus_. Elizabeth and Vanellope watch as Josh just stares hard at the one untouched, broken game.

"All this started by this one game…', Elizabeth and Vanellope just watch, Josh pulls out his staff, 'To make sure nothing else comes through…"

Josh hits and bashes the game several times. Elizabeth and Vnalelope jump seeing Josh go to town smashing the game to pieces. Josh hits it one last time and sparks fly out of the game.

"I knew something was wrong with this game the second it came in here…sorry Dad.', turns around and leaves, 'Let's go home."

Elizabeth and Vanellope turn around and catch up to Josh. The three get into the car and drive away.

Josh's Apartment…

Garage…

Josh pulls in and parks. The second the three get out the other three come walking with bags of groceries. Josh sees.

"Ah, I take the shopping went well?"

Ralph's carrying most of them. Felix is carrying one and Calhoun is carrying two. Josh sees the look on Calhoun's face.

"All right…what happened?"

Calhoun sets down the bag and looks hard at Josh.

"I will never, grocery shop, EVER AGAIN!"

Josh rubs his eye from the little spit he received.

"As I asked before, what happened?"

Felix walks in between the two.

"Well, as were waiting in line. The place was really busy. We were next to um, 'check out' is it?"

Josh nods.

"Yes Felix. That's it. Go on."

"Anyway, we were next and all of a sudden this nice old lady stepped right in front of us."

Calhoun looks down at Felix with her eyes nearly popping out of her head.

"Nice? That woman was 'nice' Felix?"

Felix looks up at Calhoun.

"She did say 'excuse me' Tamora."

"I don't care! We waited just like everyone else."

Josh sighs slowly and looks up at Ralph.

"How did it go Ralph? You didn't cause any problems did ya?"

"Nope. A lot of people looking at me but other than that, it went pretty well."

Josh nods.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Not a lot of people are used to seeing someone with your…height."

Ralph lifts up all the bags.

"No biggy."

"That's just it." Josh states

Josh says that walking away. Ralph narrows his eyes and watches Josh boards the elevator.

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone walks off the elevator and Josh looks back.

"Ralph, just put the groceries on the counter."

"All right."

Josh watches as Ralph sets the groceries down on the table. He begins to check the items they all bought according to the list he gave them. Josh nods seeing everything is there.

"All right. Good work guys.', everyone looks at Josh, 'With the stuff you bought today can last us probably a few weeks give or take."

"I know some recipes that can boost are systems." Elizabeth says

Everyone looks at Elizabeth, including Josh.

"Good. That sounds great Elizabeth. Does those 'recipes' count towards my system as well?"

Elizabeth blinks and slowly narrows her eyes.

"What does that mean Josh?"

Josh shrugs.

"Well…I'm human…and you all are well…video game characters that came from video games. Your made up of endless codes, remember?', the group looks at one another, 'My system compared to any of your 'systems' are totally diff…"

"AHHHH!" Plague yells

Everyone turn their heads at the hole in the wall and hear Plague screaming.

"Is that…Plague?" Josh asks

Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

"Who else would it be."

Josh walks around the counter and towards the hole in the wall. Everyone watches as Josh approaches the hole very slowly. Josh slowly reaches for his gun behind his back and stops right in front of the hole. He narrows as suddenly loud swooshing is heard. Josh looks back at everyone and sees there as long as he is.

"What is she doing in there?"

Josh takes a step forward and suddenly Plague swooshes herself into Josh's Apartment and tackles him.

"OOOH!" Josh yells

Everyone looks as Plague slides on Josh as he slides backwards on the ground. Smoke is shooting off of Plague from the intense fighting. Josh on the other hand is just…in pain and very much annoyed.

"Ooohh…uhhhh….', opens one eye and sees Plague, 'Plague. As much as the next guy can you please get off of me? I'm not in the mood to be roasted right now."

Plague jumps off of Josh right off his stomach.

"OH!" Josh says rubbing his stomach

Plague loses her balance all over the place trying to catch her breath. Elizabeth and Vanellope see Josh still on the floor and go over towards him and pick him up. Josh sees and gets back on his feet.

"Thanks."

(Same time)

"You're welcome/No problem." Elizabeth and Vanellope says

Elizabeth and Vanellope look at each other. Josh walks to Plague and sees her just paranoid as hell.

"Plague? What's the matter with you?"

Plague just looks all over place and picks up her sword. She swipes it down knocking off the husks blood off her blade.

"There…there here…"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Here? Who's here?"

Plague looks breathlessly at Josh and points her blade at the hole in the wall. Suddenly growling is heard and everyone looks. Josh takes out his gun and disc blade.

"Oh, HELL NO!"

Husks start pouring into Josh's Apartment and Josh and Plague attack. Calhoun grabs her pistol and Ralph pounds his fists. Elizabeth softly pushes Vanellope back and runs into the fight as well. The five attack the husks pouring into Josh's Apartment but as soon as they kill off twenty of them, more just keep pouring in.

"This is stupid! There's too many of them!" Plague yells

"You got any ideas?!" Josh asks

"Yeah!"

Josh looks to his side and Plague swooshes out of the scene. He flinches seeing what Plague just did and Calhoun notices.

"She left us! I knew she would do something like that!"

"No! But she's got an idea! To the elevator!"

Josh runs ahead and slices husks in half as he clears a path. Ralph, Calhoun and Elizabeth rush to the elevator and Felix helps Vanellope to the elevator. Josh quickly hits the button as husks come up against the elevator door and bang on it.

"Hold on!" Josh orders

Josh hits the button hard and the elevator shoots down. Everyone holds on as the elevator crashes on the ground.

Garage…

Everyone landed hard and Josh rubs his head.

"I hate my life…I hate it so much."

Calhoun looks and slaps Josh. Josh shakes his head and nods at Calhoun.

"Thanks."

"Get up."

"Yes Ma'am."

Josh climbs up and looks down at everyone.

"Everyone shout out so I know who's alive. Ralph?"

"Yeah."

"Calhoun?"

"I slapped you."

"Right. Felix?"

"Uhhh…uhh…here."

"Vanellope?"

"Ow."

"Elizabeth?', no answer, 'Elizabeth!"

"Mmm."

Josh brushes the smoke out of the way and sees Elizabeth shaking her head and rubbing it.

"You okay?"

"This elevator is dangerous."

Josh nods.

"No doubt."

Vanellope looks up and gets up.

"Josh?"

Josh looks and moves over at Vanellope.

"You okay?"

"My butt hurts."

Josh snickers.

"Be glad it was just an elevator that did that."

Josh walks to the elevator door and struggles to open it.

"Someone mind helping me here? My electricity doesn't help open wooden doors."

Elizabeth and Calhoun get up and help Josh open the door. The three open it and walk out.

"Come on…we have to get outside and figure this out."

As everyone walks into the Garage, Josh hops down from the loading dock and helps Vanellope down.

"Josh?" Elizabeth asks

Josh looks back up and helps Elizabeth down.

"There you go."

"Thank you."

"Umm, Josh?" Felix asks

Josh looks back and sees Felix. He rolls his eyes and picks Felix up and sets him on the ground.

"Anyone else?"

Suddenly WHAM! Everyone looks back at the elevator and again, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM! A husk keeps falling down and into the elevator from all the way from Josh's Apartment. Josh pulls out his staff.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!"

Vanellope looks down the Garage and sees a herd of husks coming their way.

"They're coming from over there!" Vanellope yells pointing

Everyone looks including Josh. Josh sees and his eyes and mouth just drop.

"There must be hundreds of them!"

"Get out!" Calhoun orders

Everyone runs to the door and sees them shut.

"E.D.I.! Open the damn doors! E.D.I.!?" Josh yells

"I got it!" Elizabeth shouts

Josh looks at Elizabeth and watches her open a rip of the doors being open. They run through the rip and outside the Factory. Elizabeth shuts the rip as the husks come up to the door banging on it.

Outside…

Everyone runs out and catches their breath. A few moments pass by and Josh stands straight up.

"Okay…there stuck in there…"

"Were stuck out here." Vanellope says

"How did husks get inside anyway?" Elizabeth asks

Plague swooshes back to the group.

"I found them here when everyone was gone."

Everyone sees Plague is back. Calhoun holsters her gun and grabs Plague.

"You run off like that again don't even think about coming back!"

Plague pushes Calhoun away and she points her sword at her. Calhoun quickly grabs her gun and points it at Plague.

"HEY! HEY!', Josh walks in between the two, 'Knock this shit off! We got bigger problems then who left to save their own ass, got it?!" Josh yells looking back and forth between Calhoun and Plague

"She left us!" Calhoun says pointing

"You think I'm going to stay around in there!? Remember, blondy! I was fighting them before any of you came, so back off!"

"ENOUGH!" Josh yells

Lightning bolts shoot out of Josh creating force fields between the two. Everyone looks at what Josh is doing and Josh drops his arms.

"Now, let's deal with these husks and we can rip each other's heads off later, okay?"

Calhoun and Plague sigh hard easing up on their weapons. Josh looks back at everyone.

"How did husks get into the building?" Vanellope asks

"Who else? Cyrus." Josh answers

"Why would he do that?" Elizabeth asks

"Cyrus knows where I live, he's just pulling my leg so he can crack a smile."

"There's got to be over a hundred of them in there." Felix states

"It's going to take a lot of work." Josh states

"Boy wouldn't I just want to crack that smile of his face right now." Ralph says

Josh kind of smiles.

"Yeah, you and me both Ral…"

Suddenly Josh's phone rings. Josh stops walking and everyone looks at him. He pats himself down and pulls out his phone. Josh flips his phone up and sees the name of the caller 'UNKNOWN'. He smirks and answers.

"Speak of the devil.', answers it and put sit up to ear, 'You think your funny huh jerkoff?"

"Consider it a house warming gift."

"House warming gift? You son of a…"

"Watch your mouth Josh. I'm warning you. I only called you to tell you two things."

Everyone listens in on what Josh is telling Cyrus.

"Two things?"

"Yeah, one, congratulations on getting rid of TK. Truth be told, he was a real pain in the ass."

Josh gets annoyed.

"Well I'm so happy to help you Cyrus."

"No problem Josh."

"And what's the other thing?"

"Oh yeah, about that. Are you outside?"

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Uhhh…yeah?"

"Look to your left."

Josh turns and looks left.

"Okay…I'm looking left."

Everyone looks out at the vast distance of towns and cities nearby.

"What did you say before? 'It's better to die then to be a husk'?"

Josh flinches hearing what Cyrus just said.

"What did you just say?"

Cyrus begins to laugh.

"Well let me do something for you now Josh. It's the least I can do for getting rid of TK for me."

"What are you talking about Cyrus?"

"Just watch."

"Watch what?"

Nothing but silence. Josh gulps wondering what Cyrus is about to do. Everyone looks and suddenly, BOOM! A huge explosion goes off and Josh jumps.

"WHOA!"

Everyone flinches seeing the mushroom cloud go off. Josh just freezes seeing the massive explosion and fire going off. The phone's still near Josh's ear. Josh blinks and hears Cyrus laughing.

"Well there you go Josh. What you always wanted."

Josh gulps and puts the phone closer.

"Cyrus…what the hell did you just do?"

"Exactly what you said Josh…now those children won't become my puppets.', Josh gasps and begins to tremble, 'Next time Josh…be careful what you say in front of people. Because you never know what will happen next."

Click. Josh looks at the phone and back at the black smoke. Fire trucks can be heard in the distance. Everyone besides Josh doesn't know what's going on. Elizabeth looks and slowly approaches Josh.

"Josh? What just happened?"

Josh suddenly drops the phone. Elizabeth steps back seeing what Josh just did. Josh begins to walk and point at the direction of the black smoke with his staff.

"That's…That's the hospital…that's the hospital where all the children are at…"

Everyone understands and grow and look shocked. Josh looks back at the smoke and begins to shake his head.

"No…no…no, no, no, no CYRUS!"

Elizabeth lends out her hand to try to comfort Josh.

"Josh…"

"NO!"

Josh flinches. He stomps around pounding his feet into the ground. Everyone watches Josh and finally he lets go of his staff and falls down to his knees. He covers his head up and starts crying his eyes out. Everyone else looks down seeing what just happened. Josh continues to ball his eyes out seeing all those kids who were infected…are now dead because of what he said.

End of Chapter 22

Preview of Chapter 23

With what just happened, Josh is in a dead state. He's not responding to anyone's questions. He's not moving. He's just sitting perfectly still processing what just happened in front of him. While Calhoun goes to check to make sure Cyrus really did it, Josh finally snaps out of his daze and goes on a killing spree of all the husks inside the Factory. So it's open season to the husks. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 23 – Breaking Point


	23. Chapter 23 - Breaking Point

Chapter 23 – Breaking Point

Outside Josh's Apartment…

The black smoke continues to rise up in the sky. Kneeling on the ground, Josh just sits there with a cold blank stare on his face. Calhoun kneels down in front of Josh and waves her hand. Josh can't hear anything. Everything around him is just silent.

"Josh? Josh can you hear me?"

Josh doesn't respond. He doesn't blink. Josh doesn't even breathe. Plague throws her sword out from the side of Josh and waves it in front of him.

"Wakey wakey Josh.', Josh doesn't respond at all, 'Snap out of it."

Elizabeth nudges Plague to the side.

"That is not helping."

Plague rolls her eyes and holsters her sword. Elizabeth sits alongside Calhoun and looks at Josh calmly.

"Josh? Josh can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me."

Josh doesn't say anything or do anything at all. Everyone circles around him worried. Calhoun shakes her head.

"What's wrong with him?" Calhoun asks snapping her thumb in front of his face

Elizabeth studies Josh's condition.

"He's probably seen the worst thing he's ever saw in his entire life. His mind is processing the events that just happened. Until his mind accepts what happens, it's going to take a while before he gets better." Elizabeth explains

Calhoun stands up.

"And how long does that take?"

Elizabeth blows up some of her hair in front of her face and stands up as well.

"It's hard to say, each person is different. According to the psychology books that I've read before."

"Well perhaps you can share your wealth of knowledge to help the current situation at hand." Plague states

Elizabeth looks funny at Plague and looks at Calhoun properly.

"Every person is different. If its someone like Josh, it's going to take a while for him to…get better."

"I guess the 'shock' finally got to him." Plague comments

Elizabeth looks hard at Plague. Plague looks down at Josh and smirks.

"I got something that'll snap him out of this."

Everyone looks at Plague and she bends over in front of Josh. Plague raises her hand and slaps Josh hard. Josh's face gets thrown the other way and goes right back to looks straight ahead. Calhoun pushes Plague away.

"What was that?"

"Better than the 'soft' approach don't you think?"

"We need him to get better, not worse!" Elizabeth says

"He's just a little shocked by seeing the hospital blown up, that's all. This is stupid."

"Oh yeah? Would Cyrus really do something like this?" Calhoun asks

"Huh?"

"Would your Father really blow up the hospital to get back at someone?" Calhoun asks getting closer to Plague

Plague shrugs and scuffs.

"I don't know."

"He's your FATHER."

"Do you have to remind me? I don't know how his twisted mind works."

"Then think really hard now."

"Get out of my face Blondy."

"I will the second you answer my question."

Plague sighs and backs up out of Calhoun's personal space.

"Cyrus does either one of two things. He either does what he says or bluffs his way out. There, does that help?"

"Bluffs?" Calhoun asks

"Yeah, but as you can clearly see, that doesn't look like a bluff to me."

Everyone looks. Ralph shakes his head.

"It's to good to be true."

"Oh yeah Big Man? That looks like smoke and fire. I would know, I can wheel it through my hands. Believe me, that's the hospital that just got blown up."

"Ralph's right. I'm going to make sure."

Calhoun walks ahead. Plague sees and shakes her head.

"You serious? Why are you even going there? You can clearly see it from right here."

Calhoun looks back.

"I see black smoke in the direction of the hospital, it could be anything else."

Plague waves Calhoun off.

"Fine, go find out. Take a couple pictures for me will ya?"

Calhoun narrows her eyes and looks at Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth.', Elizabeth walks over to Calhoun, 'Keep an eye on Josh. He's not doing so good after all this."

"I'll keep an eye on him."

"I'll try to come back as fast as I can. Will figure out a way to take care of the husks inside the Factory."

"Okay."

Josh slowly moves his head to the side and sees his staff lying on the ground. He slowly clenches his fists and finally stands up. Josh walks to his staff and picks it up. Calhoun looks and sees Josh finally up.

"Josh!"

Elizabeth and everyone else look and see Josh is up and about. Josh walks directly towards the Garage door and Calhoun yells over at Ralph.

"Ralph!"

Ralph looks and Calhoun nods. He nods as well and walks in front of Josh and he stops in front of Ralph.

"Josh. Just take it easy, let's talk about this."

Josh flies right over Ralph and he spins around. He continues on right at the Garage door and again Ralph tries to stop him.

"Josh, just stop!"

Josh turns around and creates huge sparks out of his staff. Ralph slides backwards and everyone sees what Josh is doing. Josh looks pissed at Ralph and Ralph shakes nervously. He grabs his disc blade and walks to the closed Garage door. Josh cuts a huge hole in it and enters the Garage. From outside, growling and thundering can be heard as everyone realizes what Josh is doing, fighting on his own destroying the husks inside the Factory. Calhoun shakes her head.

"No one goes inside there, got it?" Calhoun asks Elizabeth

Elizabeth looks back.

"I got it Calhoun."

Plague watches as Calhoun slides the gate open and runs in the direction of the smoke. Back inside the garage, loud streaking is heard and growling of each husk Josh is trying to destroy all by himself. Josh kills all the husks that are inside the Garage. He moves on ahead and goes further into the Factory.

Inside the Factory…

Josh kicks down a set of double doors and sees the hallway is filled of husks. He holds his staff and disc blade firmly and takes a deep breath. Josh walks ahead as husks hear him come. He attacks each husk swinging and slicing. One husk grabs hold of Josh and he rams it into the wall. Josh goes to town smacking and slicing the husks as more come to his location. He fires a powerful bolt at one and the current jumps from husk to husk killing them.

As Josh catches his breath, three more husks come walking right up behind Josh quietly. Josh isn't aware so he rubs his face. The husks get closer and suddenly Josh spins around with the disc blade in his hand and cuts each one in half. Josh looks around at all the dead husks in the hallway and sees he took care of each and every one. He looks serious and up ahead. Josh hears more husks coming from inside the Factory. He holds his weapons firmly and goes on ahead.

Back outside the Factory…

The gang waits outside wondering what their next move should be. Vanellope looks at the hole in the Garage door and walks ahead. Ralph notices and stops her.

"Hey Kid, where you going?"

"Josh can't fight all those husks in there, we got to help."

"Well help him."

"When?"

"When Calhoun gets back."

"There's over a thousand husks inside there, Josh can't fight them alone."

Plague walks over dragging her sword on the ground creating that scratch noise.

"I wouldn't worry about him that much shorty.', Vanellope looks up at Plague, 'I saw the fire in his eyes. He's a one man wrecking crew. He's not someone you wont to help fight in there."

"Plague.', Elizabeth says walking to Plague, Plague turns her head and sees Elizabeth walking towards her, the two stare hard at each other standing in front of each other, 'Knock. It. Off."

"Or what? I was the only one fighting them while you all decided to leave this place."

"We couldn't expect anything like this to happen."

"It's CYRUS! Expect the unexpected! That's how he works. That's how he always works."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Plague notices and Elizabeth walks away with her arms crossed. She spins around her sword a few times and sticks it in the ground leaning against it.

"Just because you think you possibly know everything doesn't mean you know how everything works."

Elizabeth turns around and sees Plague is getting a little touchy on that sort of subject.

"I never said I know everything."

"But you do love sound like you know everything. Just saying, or how do you say, 'I've had a lot of time stuck in that Tower'?"

Elizabeth gets upset and her hands get frosty. Plague gets on fire and Ralph stops the two.

"Hey, hey! Stop!"

Plague and Elizabeth stare hard at each other and just decide to let it go. Felix looks back at everyone and fixes his hat. He sighs softly and looks back.

"I'm going to go in."

Everyone looks at Felix. Ralph shakes his head.

"Felix, no. You can't."

"I'm quick and I won't get caught by those husks."

"Felix. I can't allow that." Ralph states

"Don't worry Ralph."

Felix fixes his hat and sets it on straight. He looks at Vanellope.

"I'll find out if Josh is okay, all right Vanellope?"

Vanellope steps forward.

"I'm coming with."

"No. You stay out here. You're not as fast as I am."

"Felix…"

"No Vanellope. I'll be back.', starts to walk away, Elizabeth and Plague start to watch, 'If I'm not back in five minutes would someone come looking for me?', dead silence, Felix gulps, 'One of you will come right? Right?"

Felix slowly comes up to the hole in the Garage door and…slowly walks in. Everyone watches as Felix disappears into the darkness.

The Factory…

Felix hops over a dead husk and just sees the hallway littered with decomposing husks.

"Oh my…" Felix says covering his mouth

Each husk is either shot, cut in half or in pieces or just smashed to death. Felix looks up ahead and sees a dark figure leaning against a wall. He looks closer.

"Josh?"

Down the hallway, it is Josh. Josh leans against the wall, holding his gun and staff in each hand. He's breathing slowly covered in husk parts just with that same blank stare look on his face. Felix walks around Josh just looking up.

"Josh?"

Felix looks ahead and sees a chair before Josh. He walks to it and pulls it in front of Josh. Felix hops on the chair and gets to eye level with Josh. Josh diverts his eyes trying not to look at Felix. Felix tries to help Josh.

"Josh? Josh, you all right brother?', Josh looks around as if he's trying to find some sort of answer, Felix gulps, 'Uhh…good job getting these husks.', looks around nervously, 'There's awfully a lot of husks in here. Plague was right. You are a one man wrecking crew.', Josh looks to the side as if he's seeing someone walking towards him, Felix lends out his hand, 'Look, why don't you take a break. Huh?', Josh rubs his face with his wrist with his gun hand, Felix touches Josh, 'Josh let's get out of here and take care of this together."

The second Felix touches Josh, Josh grabs hold of Felix and lifts him up higher against the wall. Felix gasps as Josh holds Felix with his staff and rubbing the gun under Felix's chin. Felix gulps seeing Josh charging the pistol.

"Easy Josh…easy please."

Josh blinks and finally looks at Felix. He blinks several times and drops him. Felix lands on the chair and looks up. Josh looks down and slides the chair down the hallway away from him. Felix finally stops sliding on the chair and looks back down at Josh nervously. Josh spins his staff around and holds it tightly. He turns around and goes further down the hallway killing any more husks that get in his way. Felix hops off the chair and heads back outside.

Back outside the Factory…

Elizabeth looks with her arms crossed at the black smoke fading away in the distance. She sighs slowly and wipes her eyes. Ralph looks around and sees every girl, except Calhoun there, suddenly Felix walks out of the hole and moans.

"Ooooh…that's bright."

Ralph turns and sees Felix.

"Felix!"

Everyone turns and sees Felix. Ralph and Vanellope run towards him and Elizabeth and Plague stand where there at.

"How'd it go Felix?"

"Is Josh all right?"

Felix wipes his head.

"Uhh…I…I don't know how to answer that Ralph…"

Ralph narrows his eyes. Vanellope grows more worried.

"Well is he all right?"

Felix grabs his collar where Josh grabbed him at.

"Well…he 'is' all right.', Vanellope narrows her eyes, 'But I wouldn't go in there unless your just looking for trouble."

"Huh?"

"Josh is in no mood to see anyone at the moment."

Vanellope looks back at the hole in the Garage Door.

The Factory…

Josh kicks open the doors to the Factory Floor. Husks are just everywhere. Josh looks serious and fires a round off in the air. The husks turn and see Josh. They growl and start moving towards him. Josh narrows his eyes and puts the gun away. The husks move closer to Josh and he puts his gun away. Josh then starts spinning around his staff. Gusts of wind start to push the husks back as suddenly Josh spins his whole body around and a tornado storm comes out of his body shooting out lightning bolts all around hitting the husks.

The husks go flying all over the giant room. They hit the walls, the ceiling, several left over machines still in the room. Josh walks ahead and steps over dead husks sparking out electricity showing their completely dead. He throws out his staff and uses it as a cane stepping on the dead husks on purpose. Josh makes it to the center of the room and looks around at all the destruction he caused.

Out on the Streets…

Calhoun runs in the direction of all the fire trucks and police cars are holding off the street. Several people are in crowds and looking at the huge fire. Calhoun tries to make it past everyone but the crowd is shoulder to shoulder watching the scene. She tries to look past the crowd but the entire block is blocked off and no one can through except police and fire trucks. As Calhoun tries to figure out what to do next, she tries to go all the way around.

Back outside the Factory…

The five are still outside. Ralph, Felix and Vanellope are together. Elizabeth and Plague are separate from each other minding their own business. Elizabeth looks back at the hole in the Garage door and sighs softly.

"The hell with it."

Elizabeth walks to the door and everyone sees. Plague turns back around not caring Elizabeth is going in. Ralph, Vanellope and Felix sees.

"Hey, hey! Elizabeth." Ralph says following Elizabeth

"Don't try to stop me Ralph."

"If you're going in I am too." Vanellope says

Elizabeth looks back.

"No. I'm going in alone."

"That's unfair, how come Felix and you can go but I can't?"

"You don't want to see Josh like this Vanellope. Trust me. He's…not himself." Felix explains

"He's still Josh. Now I'm going."

"No.', Elizabeth says, Vanellope stops as Elizabeth keeps her hand out, 'Stay here Vanellope."

Vanellope looks hard as she throws her hands in her hoody. Elizabeth turns around and enters the Factory.

Inside the Factory…

Elizabeth walks around the door frames and just sees an endless piles of bodies of the husks.

"Oh my…" Elizabeth says looking down

Elizabeth steps over the husk's bodies and looks ahead. She looks ahead and sees Josh standing in the center of the room just staring ahead. Elizabeth blinks and moves her way towards him.

"Josh?"

Josh doesn't respond. Elizabeth walks carefully around Josh just with a blank stare on his face just looking down.

"Josh? It's me Elizabeth. Josh."

Josh blinks and slowly turns at Elizabeth. Elizabeth nods seeing Josh making some eye contact.

"Okay…good…easy now…" Elizabeth says getting closer

Josh blinks and looks down. Suddenly some sparks jump out of Josh and Elizabeth stops. Elizabeth sees Josh doesn't want her close to him.

"Okay. Okay. I won't get close to you.', Josh looks the other way, Elizabeth tries to keep in eye contact with Josh as he keeps diverting his eyes away from her, 'Josh. I know how you must feel about what happened.', Josh gulps and blinks continuously, 'Cyrus will pay for what he's done.', Josh looks serious and holds his staff firmly, Elizabeth tilts her head, 'This wasn't your fault.', that catches Josh's eye, Josh bounces his eyes around trying to accept that, 'Cyrus killed those kids. You didn't. You were trying to save them. Now come on…', Elizabeth reaches out and Josh looks at Elizabeth's hand coming towards him, 'Let's go back outside and get some fresh air. You need the rest."

As Elizabeth gets closer. Electricity shoots out of Josh and Elizabeth moves back. Josh turns around and exits the Factory. Elizabeth just stares and slowly lowers her hand.

Back Outside…

The four wait for either Calhoun or Elizabeth to return. Elizabeth walks out and Vanellope is the first one to see.

"Well?"

Elizabeth walks ahead and looks at Vanellope as she walks. Vanellope waits for an answer.

"Nothing."

Vanellope sits up.

"Nothing? That's all?"

Elizabeth continues on ahead.

"Yes."

"Well what did you do? Did you even try to help him?"

Elizabeth blows up her hair and reframes from getting angry.

"I did try to help him Vanellope, right now Josh just wants to be alone."

Vanellope shakes her head in disgust. Plague looks back and shakes her head cleaning off her sword.

"Wonderful group we got here.', Elizabeth turns her head at Plague, 'Our leader is on the breaking point and Cyrus is always a couple steps ahead of us."

Elizabeth shakes her head and sighs.

"If you don't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Plague shrugs.

"Just saying…"

"Plague!"

Plague looks back and sees Elizabeth not in the mood to be toyed around. She sighs and goes back to cleaning. Suddenly the front gate of the Factory opens up and everyone sees its Calhoun. Calhoun walks in, breathing heavily as everyone, besides Plague walks towards her.

"So? Find anything?" Felix asks

Calhoun shakes her head.

"I couldn't get anywhere near the place. It's all sealed off all around."

"You tried Tamora."

"Where's Josh?" Calhoun asks

"Still inside." Elizabeth answers

Calhoun looks at the hole in the Garage door and shakes her head.

"I'll get him."

Calhoun walks ahead, but Elizabeth stops her at the same time Calhoun looks back.

"Don't."

"He can't sulk all day here."

"You don't want to go in there."

"Why not?"

Elizabeth gulps.

"Because…', looks at everyone, 'he wants to be left alone."

Calhoun blinks for a moment and sighs. She rubs her face and Elizabeth lets go of her.

"What are we going to do now?" Vanellope asks

Calhoun looks up.

"Let's go inside. To the Apartment now. See if there are any husks left."

Everyone agrees to that plan. Plague looks back and sees everyone walking to the Garage. She spins her sword around and follows everyone in.

The Garage…

As everyone walks through the hole Josh made, they look at all the husks lying dead on the ground.

"Holy…Cy-Bug…" Calhoun says staring at all the husks

"There's even more in the hallways." Felix states

"More?" Calhoun asks

"There's more inside the Factory." Elizabeth states

"More inside the Factory? Are you telling me Josh did…all of this?"

(Same time)

"Yes." Felix and Elizabeth say

Calhoun rubs her forehead seeing how many husks Josh took care of all by himself. She looks around and steps over the dead husks.

"Let's…get up to the Apartment to see if there are any left."

The group walks to the elevator and boards it. Calhoun shuts the elevator door and it takes a minute for the elevator to move again. The elevator jumps and everyone feels it. Finally, the elevator starts to go up.

Josh's Apartment…

Calhoun throws up the elevator and the group enters the Apartment. They look at all the dead husks lying around and Ralph shakes his head.

"I take it that Josh already came through here."

"Let's see. The Garage, the hallways, the Factory room and now even his Apartment. I have to say that Josh has been quite busy." Felix explains

"Well where is he now?" Vanellope asks

"He's here. Somewhere. He'll eventually cool." Plague says

Elizabeth turns her head.

"And you would know this how?"

Plague makes a face at Elizabeth.

"Because even I run out of the fire inside me. Perhaps Josh will even do the same. But for him, his light will turn off…eventually."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Back with Josh…

Inside the Manager's Office…

Josh sticks his staff into a husk and he falls to pieces. He breathes heavily and looks around. On the far side of the room, a husk with ripped off legs lies against the wall growling at Josh. Josh sees it and walks towards it. The husk reaches out for Josh and he swipes its hands away with his staff. Josh grabs his gun and kneels down next to it. The husk growls some more and Josh sticks his gun inside the husks mouth. The husk begins to drool and Josh looks the other way.

"AHHHHHH!"

Josh fires the gun, BANG! And the back of the husks head shoots off into the wall behind it. He breathes heavily and looks back. Josh spits on the husk and crawls backwards. He hits the desk in the room and just sits there for a few second. Josh's breathing starts to calm down making him now breathe through his nose. His grip on his weapons slowly begin to ease up and finally let's go of his weapons. Josh slowly looks up and closes his eyes.

Josh's Apartment…

Ralph shoulders a couple of husks and throws them on the elevator. Calhoun shuts the door and takes the elevator down disposing of the husks. Felix gets to work fixing the wall that Josh cut but doesn't fix it all the way so there's a giant hole there. Elizabeth pulls on a husks arm dragging it to the elevator. Ralph sees and takes over.

"I got it Elizabeth."

"Oh, thank you Ralph."

Ralph throws up the husk and tosses it in front of the elevator. Vanellope watches as Felix fixes the hole in the wall. Elizabeth turns and sees Vanellope biting her finger nail looking at the wall. She walks over towards her and kneels down. Vanellope isn't aware.

"Josh is a strong man; you don't have to worry about him."

Vanellope shrugs and just looks forward.

"You don't know him like I do."

Elizabeth nods.

"Right. That's right. But I'm just reassuring you he'll be fine."

Vanellope nods.

"Well stop 'reassuring' me. You don't know me either." Vanellope says walking away

Elizabeth watches Vanellope walk away. She narrows her eyes seeing Vanellope is acting kind of tough when it comes to her.

Following Morning…

The sun slowly rises up shining on the Factory.

Manager's Office…

Josh fell asleep inside the Manager's Office. He fell asleep on the chair behind the Manager's desk. Josh bobs his head up and down and finally wakes up. He yawns loudly and rubs his eyes. Josh looks around and sees he passed out inside the Office. He looks down and slowly raises his hands. Josh stares at them and remembers the events of yesterday. He closes his eyes and clenches them hard. Josh takes a deep breath and stands up. He walks around the desk and picks up his pistol and staff. Josh looks at the dead husk against the wall which he blew its brains out. He shakes his head and moves on to the exit, but then all of a sudden, the Manger's phone rings.

"Huh?"

Josh turns around narrowing his eyes. He stares at the Manager's desk and sees the phone on top ringing. Josh gulps and walks towards it. He stands in front of the desk and stares at the phone that continues to ring. Josh slowly picks it up and puts the receiver to his head.

"Um…hello?"

The voice is a bit static. It sounds like a little boy…

"_Hel…Hello? Is someone really there_?"

Josh blinks and looks around.

"Yes. How did, who are…"

"_Oh thank God! I've been calling and calling. I thought no one was going to pick up_."

Josh blinks and leans against the desk.

"How did you get this number?"

"_I told you, I've been pushing random numbers since this whole thing started_."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Since what started?"

"_This virus thing that's infected everyone_."

Josh's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

"Virus? Did you just say virus?"

"_Yeah, me and some of these other kids are infected_."

Josh sort of smiles and looks around the room.

"You're sick? Where are you?"

"_I can't tell you where I am_."

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Little boy, listen to me…I know you don't know who I am. If you're in a hospital, you can be anywhere from a mile to a hundred miles away…" Josh explains frantically

"_I'm sorry, but I can't tell you where I am_."

Josh sighs slowly.

"Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Just, Just tell me one thing though…', a moment passes by, 'How many other kids are infected?"

"_A lot. More than seventy five are here with me_."

Josh looks like he's about to pass out.

"Seven-Seventy five?"

"_The doctors here are doing everything they can but nothing's helping_."

"Because they've never seen any kind of virus like this before…right?"

"_Exactly…anything they do to us, nothing seems to help._"

"Look…', Josh rubs his eyes hard, 'I know this is going to sound ridiculous. But I swear to God. I swear as being the oldest member of my family…I can help you. I can help all the other kids too."

"_How_?"

Josh looks out past the windows of the Manager's Office.

"I'm immune.', dead silence, 'I was once infected with the same virus. But I got cured. I'm immune. I can cure anyone else. Let me just help you. Please. Please let me help you."

"_Wow! Really_?"

Josh shakes his head with a smile.

"Yes. Yes! I can."

"_Let me talk to the doctors here first. Let them decide on this._"

Josh shakes his head now with a worried look.

"Wait! Hold on a second. Just put them on right now. I'll explain the situation to them."

"_I'll call you back later, I promise_."

Josh slams his hand into the desk.

"No! Wait! Please, please! Don't hang up! Please don't hang up…', Josh puts his head down on the desk still holding the phone, he shuts his eyes really hard, 'Something…', gulps, 'Something terrible has happened. Something…really bad has happened…I'm a really nice person. I'm a good person. I just want to help."

"_I'll call back in two hours._"

Josh throws his head up.

"NO! Please! You don't understand! You don't know what's happening to me…', Josh cries and wipes his eyes, a moment passes by and Josh trembles, 'I'm…I can't do this…I can't…I'm dying here…I'm dying…', sniffs, 'I just…I want really want to help someone…"

Click. Josh blinks and looks at the phone. He sets it back down and takes a deep breath. Josh looks down at his clothes and sees he's covered in husk muck. He pats himself down and looks back at the door to the Manager's office.

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone's eating breakfast around the contour. Plague is off the side eating in her own place. Calhoun looks across the contour and sees Vanellope not eating; instead she's just staring at her bowel. Over at the elevator shaft entrance, the elevator isn't there. Suddenly Josh flies up quietly without alerting anyone. Josh looks clean as a whistle. He looks around at everyone and sees them enjoying a nice morning breakfast. Josh looks down and gulps and walks in.

"Good morning."

Everyone turns and sees Josh. He walks to the fridge.

"Is everyone all right?"

Calhoun wipes her mouth.

"Yeah, we're fine."

Josh nods.

"Good."

Josh opens the fridge and just stares at the jam packed fridge full of food. Everyone still continues to watch Josh.

"How about you Josh?" Ralph asks

Josh shrugs.

"I'm fine. Cleared out the Factory and Garage." Josh says staring inside the fridge with a blank stare

"We all saw that." Plague states

Elizabeth looks back at Plague and she sees.

"How many were there to begin with?" Calhoun asks

Josh gulps.

"I really didn't keep count.', Josh sighs, 'I knew I forgot something."

"What?" Calhoun asks

"There's no Root Beer. I didn't write 'Root Beer' on the list I gave you yesterday. Damn it…" Josh says closing the fridge

Josh walks away and slowly stops. He just stares awkwardly at the hole in the wall and sees it half fixed. Everyone notices.

"Just to make sure no more husks come walking in here. I only fixed it up just a bit." Felix explains

Josh nods.

"I don't think there's any more left. I took care of all of them. Every…single…one…" Josh says rubbing his neck

Josh shakes his head and looks back at everyone. He walks to Vanellope and rubs her shoulder.

"I came back to check on everyone. Especially Vanellope."

Vanellope nods with a small smile on her face. Josh just stares and nods.

"I'll be in the Manager's Office if anyone needs me." Josh says walking to the elevator shaft

Calhoun walks out behind the contour.

"By the way, I'm going back out today to check out the hospital.', Calhoun explains, Josh stops right in front of the shaft, 'I want to make sure Cyrus did what he showed us yesterday."

Josh narrows his eyes and turns around.

"Why? What's the point?"

Calhoun crosses her arms.

"It doesn't seem right for Cyrus to destroy the only thing that your fighting for."

"You saw that explosion yesterday…right Calhoun?', Calhoun blinks, Josh looks at everyone, 'We all saw that yesterday right? I wasn't the only one?"

"We all saw it Josh." Elizabeth says

"Then were on the same page then. Cyrus did what I said.', the group looks at one another for what Josh just said, Josh scratches his nose and sighs slowly, 'I got to be careful of what I say from now on."

Josh turns around and jumps down the shaft the second Elizabeth stands up.

"Josh!"

Josh is already gone. Elizabeth sighs and Ralph scratches his head.

"Why would he be in the Manager's Office?"

Calhoun shrugs.

"I don't know. At least we know where he's going to be now."

Inside the Manager's Office…

Josh sits in the Manager's chair just staring at the phone with his head on the table. He sighs slowly and reaches for it. Josh puts the phone up to his ear and hears nothing. He hangs up and sighs hard.

"Take it easy, take it easy. She said she would call back."

Suddenly the phone rings and Josh grabs it jumping up.

"Hello? Hello.', a moment passes by, 'Hello?"

A static voice enters the phone of a man's voice.

"_Are you the boy he was talking to_?"

Josh nods.

"Yes. Yes it is."

"_And you say you can help the children_?"

"Yes. He said there's over seventy five of them."

"_That's correct. All these kids here are sick. They have the same like symptoms of each other. There in a lot of pain as it seems.', Josh closes his eyes nodding in agreement, 'Anything we do seems not to work. But you say you can cure them?"_

Josh gulps and looks around.

"Yes. Yes I can."

"_How do I know I can trust you? You could be dangerous."_

Josh shakes his head.

"I'm not dangerous. You have to believe me."

"_Do you know anyone who's died of this virus_?"

Josh sighs slowly and shakes his head.

"As far as I know…too many already."

"_I see. How did you lose your brother_?"

Josh blinks and narrows his eyes.

"How, How did you know I had a brother?"

"_He told me you were the oldest. I assumed you had a brother from the way he explained it._"

Josh sighs slowly.

"Yes. I, I did have a brother."

"_How did you lose your brother? Was he infected?_"

Josh gulps and rubs his eyes really hard.

"Look, Look. No offense whoever you are, but that's none of your damn business, all right?"

Click. Josh blinks and leans forward.

"Hello? Hello!"

The guy hung up.

"NOOO!"

Josh kicks and punches the desk hard and almost breaks the phone. But he reframes from doing so.

"GOD! NO!"

Josh slams the phone down and just stares at it. He sighs slowly shaking. Josh sniffs and looks out the windows of the Office.

Josh's Apartment…

Felix and Elizabeth clean up.

"Thank you Elizabeth."

"You're welcome Felix."

Elizabeth looks back and doesn't see Calhoun.

"Where's Calhoun?"

"She went back towards the hospital to check it out."

"Again?"

"It was jam packed yesterday. She couldn't get anywhere near it."

"Right."

"I hope she can today. Finally find out all this mess."

"And Josh?" Elizabeth asks cleaning a dish

"Still in the Manager's Office." Felix says with a worried face

"Still? It has been several hours."

"I'm really worried about him. I've never seen him like this."

"It must be hard to see a friend like this."

"When it's Josh, you can't but help do something for him.', Elizabeth turns her head at Felix who just stares down at the wet dishes, 'Josh you can say…carries a lot of weight on his shoulders.', Elizabeth just blinks, 'He'd put himself before others any day, anytime, anywhere.', Elizabeth nods, 'He cares more about others then himself and he doesn't care what happens to him."

"I understand Felix."

Felix shakes his head and takes off his hat.

"Josh is a true friend to have.', snickers, 'In a way, I feel so sorry for Cyrus."

Elizabeth nods with a small smile.

"Josh would never be friends with someone like Cyrus." Elizabeth states

Felix shrugs.

"His loss."

Elizabeth nods. She turns her head and looks at the elevator shaft. Elizabeth turns around and sees Vanellope sitting down on the couch watching TV. She looks back down at Felix and dries off her hands.

"I'll be right back."

Felix sees Elizabeth leaving.

"Where you going?"

Elizabeth looks back.

"Just for a little walk."

Felix watches as Elizabeth boards the elevator. She goes down as Vanellope looks back seeing Elizabeth leave the Apartment.

Manager's Office…

Josh walks back and forth in front of the desk. He sighs slowly just waiting for the call back, but is just a bit worried.

_Something…Something weird is going on here…that voice…that man…it sounded…familiar…but where have I heard it before?_

Footsteps are heard and Josh looks at the front door. Josh grabs his pistol and charges it up. He stares hard at the door and sees a figure standing behind the thick glass. The door opens and Josh looks serious, Elizabeth sticks her head in and Josh, shuts his eyes and sighs through his nose. Elizabeth walks into the Manager's Office.

"I thought I find you here."

Josh looks away.

"I did say I was going to be here."

Elizabeth stops and remembers hearing Josh did say that earlier. She nods.

"Your right. I'm sorry."

Josh continues to look away.

"No need to apologize Elizabeth."

Josh stands in front of the phone and hides it behind him. Elizabeth walks further in and sees the Office old, dusty and very dark. She looks down and sees an old chair in front of the Manager's desk.

"May I sit down?"

Josh doesn't look at Elizabeth but looks annoyed. He looks down at the chair and sees it covered in dust. Josh walks to it and cleans it up. Elizabeth sort of smiles and Josh points.

"Here you go." Josh says walking away

"Thank you." Elizabeth says sitting down

Josh sits down at the corner of the desk, still hiding in front of the phone. Silence throughout the room. Elizabeth just keeps her hands together with a small smile on her face. Josh looks over at Elizabeth and sees her smiling. He looks down keeping eye contact away. Elizabeth looks down and reaches in her pocket. She pulls out the handmade necklace she made for Tweety.

"I still have this.', Josh looks and recognizes it, sort of smiles and laughs, 'It's so hard to let it go. I still wake up in the middle of the night expecting to see him."

Josh looks away.

"I'm so sorry Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks back at Josh.

"Now you have nothing to apologize for Josh. You saved my life. More than once."

Josh nods.

"I do what I can."

"For others. I know.', Josh looks away, Elizabeth tilts her head, 'You don't have to punish yourself to keep yourself away from everyone.', Josh blinks and gulps, 'You don't have to keep thinking what happened yesterday was your fault."

"I know what I did."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

Josh finally looks at Elizabeth.

"Your right I didn't do anything wrong Elizabeth', Elizabeth blinks looking at Josh, 'But it wasn't enough of what I didn't do. I didn't keep those kids safe. They were infected. I could have done something to keep them from turning."

"You can't go anywhere public Josh. You said so yourself, anyone who sees you will call the police."

Josh sighs.

"I'm trying so hard here…"

"You're doing everything you can. Even you have your limits.', Josh looks down, 'Take all the time you need to heal. We're all here for you if you need help."

Josh blinks and looks at Elizabeth. He sighs slowly and reveals the phone.

"Someone called this phone this morning."

Elizabeth blinks confusedly and looks at the phone Josh is pointing at.

"I'm sorry?"

Josh pushes the phone forward closer to Elizabeth.

"A little boy called this phone. I answered. He told me he's sick and has the virus."

"He has the virus?"

"Yes. He also said there were seventy five other children at the hospital he's at getting treated for. But nothing is helping him or anyone else."

Elizabeth blinks and looks at the phone. She picks it up and blows the dust off of it. Josh crosses his arms and Elizabeth puts the phone to her head. Elizabeth blinks and sets the phone back down.

"Um, Josh?"

"Hmm."

Elizabeth gulps.

"You might want to sit down."

"I'm fine, thank you."

Elizabeth sighs slowly.

"There's no dial tone off this thing."

Josh blinks and turns his head.

"What?"

"There's no dial tone."

Josh looks at the phone and picks it up. He puts the phone up to his ear and hears nothing. Josh blinks and nods.

"Because there's no power in it."

"There's no power in this side of the building anyway."

"I'm full of it, remember?"

Elizabeth blinks and softly shakes her head seeing the connection.

"I talked to some doctor or someone. He sounded like he was in charge. If this is right I'm going to tell him who I am and get him convinced that I save help those kids."

"You think that's the best thing to do right now?"

Josh shrugs.

"I got nothing else going for me at the moment Elizabeth.', Elizabeth blinks, 'If this is legit, I'm going to that hospital to cure those kids. Please don't tell the others just yet." Josh explains walking away

Josh hangs up the phone carefully and walks away up to the windows. Elizabeth watches and nods.

"Okay. How about I sit here and wait with you? I promise I won't ask you any questions. Will just…sit here and wait." Elizabeth says with a calm looking face

Josh blinks staring out the window. He shakes his head and turns around.

"No.', Elizabeth blinks shocked to hear that from Josh, 'I have to do this alone. Please leave Elizabeth."

Elizabeth sits there and nods.

"All right. I'll leave you alone."

Elizabeth gets up and leaves. Josh sighs slowly hearing the door close. Elizabeth looks back as she closes the door. Josh rubs his eyes and looks up. Suddenly the phone rings and Josh spins at it. Josh runs to it and answers it.

"Hello?!"

The voice is static. The voice sounds like an older woman.

"_How come you didn't want to talk about how your brother died_?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Look, it happened a long time ago. It has nothing to do with anything that's happening right now."

"_But wouldn't it feel good to talk about it? Even talk about what happened yesterday_?"

Josh's hand shakes and he catches his breath.

"Why would I feel good about talking about it? There's nothing to talk about."

"_Nothing to talk about? There's plenty to talk about. What you did in the reaction of what happened, wouldn't it feel better to talk about it to someone Josh_?"

Josh sighs slowly and nods.

"All right. All right I'll talk about it….', Josh blinks and narrows his eyes, 'Did you just call me 'Josh'?"

"_Yes I did._"

Josh gulps.

"I never told you my name…how do you know who I am?"

The static off the phone gets worse. Click is heard and Josh stares at the phone. Josh's hand begins to shake and he slams the phone down. He backs up and hits the back wall far away from the phone. Josh slowly falls down next to the husk and brushes his hair back.

_What is going on? Am I officially losing it?_

Back out on the Streets…

Calhoun walks down the road past the less crowded street now. Fire trucks and police are still at the scene and are cleaning up the damage. Calhoun comes up to the spot where the fire's at. She looks at what the fire men are putting out and covers her mouth.

"I don't believe it…"

Back inside the Manager's Office…

The phone is ringing. Josh just stares at the phone from across the room. He slowly stands up and clenches his fist. Josh stands in front of the phone and picks it up. He gulps as he puts it to his ear.

"How do you know who I am?"

The voice is static, and the voice sounds like another little boy.

"_Because we know who you are Josh. We've always known who you are._"

Josh looks around in a confused way.

"How do you know me?"

"_And you know who they are Josh. The people you were talking too…don't they sound familiar?_"

Josh blinks and shuts his eyes really hard. He shakes his head.

"No. I don't…" Josh says slowly looking down

"_Come on Josh…think…it was Tommy. Mom and Dad._"

Josh throws his head straight up and his eye twitch.

"M-M-Mom? D-Dad? That's who I was talking too?"

"_Don't you recognize my voice Josh_?"

Josh gulps and slowly shakes.

"Ja-Jason?"

The static in the phone gets worse. Josh rubs his eyes and slowly sits on the ground.

"Jason?', sniffs, 'Jason…is that really you?"

"_Of course it's me…who else would it be_?"

Josh swallows hard.

"It…It can't be…"

"_What's wrong Josh? Tell me what's wrong._"

Josh begins to tremble and his eyes are just pouring with tears.

"Everything…everything is just wrong Jason…everything is just wrong."

"_What happened Josh_?"

Josh sniffs.

"Cyrus…It's Cyrus Jason. I…I can't stop him. He's…He's always a step ahead of me. I can't…', shakes head, 'I can't keep doing this. It's too hard. There's too much at stake here for me to handle. I can't do this anymore…"

"_Josh. Josh you listen to me. You're not alone in this. You have people with you to help you through this. So stop thinking you're alone. Because you're not. You have everyone who needs you as much as you need them.', Josh blinks and looks up, 'You have to do this. You can't stop now. Keep. Moving. Forward. You know no one else can do this except you. Got it? And don't you think about losing now, okay_?"

Josh blinks and pulls the phone away from his ear. He narrows his eyes and closes his eyes.

"_Josh_? _Josh_?"

Josh sighs slowly and looks down. He reaches above his head with the phone still in his hand and…hangs up. Josh sighs slowly and gets up. He walks to the door and looks back. Josh nods and leaves.

Josh's Apartment…

Vanellope still sits alone waiting for Josh's return. Elizabeth looks over her shoulder and sees Vanellope is still waiting for Josh's return. In the elevator shaft, Josh flies up and lands quietly without alerting anyone. Josh takes a deep breath through his nose and walks forward.

"Anything new going on?"

Vanellope, Elizabeth, Ralph, and Felix turn and see Josh is back. Vanellope hops off the couch.

"Josh!"

Vanellope runs to Josh and she hugs his stomach. Josh pats her head and Ralph and Felix approach Josh. He sees them.

"Hey guys.', the two nod, 'Sorry for…what I did yesterday to you."

The two wave it off.

"It was nothing." Ralph states

"It's okay." Felix says

Josh looks down.

"It won't happen again."

The two nod. Suddenly the elevator comes up and Josh turns around. Calhoun lifts the doors up and Josh sees.

"Calhoun?"

"Josh. I'm glad you're here."

"Where have you been?"

"Turn your TV on."

"Huh?"

Calhoun sighs.

"E.D.I., show Josh the news."

"Yes Calhoun."

Josh blinks and looks at the TV. So does everyone else. E.D.I. turns on the TV and shows a news broadcast of the explosion. Josh shakes his head.

"Calhoun…really?"

"Shut up and watch the darn thing." Calhoun orders

Josh looks back up but it turns out the explosion was just a gas station near the hospital. He blinks slowly and everyone relaxes knowing that Cyrus was just bluffing.

"It…It wasn't the hospital?"

"No. I saw it with my own eyes. The hospital never blew up. Cyrus lied to throw you off guard."

Josh, sighs in relief and sits on the ground.

"Oooh…oh thank GOD! OH! Give me a minute. Give me some space guys."

Everyone backs up as Josh gets some air. Josh begins to chuckle and leans back.

"Oooh boy…I got to tell you…there's just…this weight has been lifted off my shoulders.', Josh rubs his shoulders, 'But now…it's time to focus the problem at hand."

Josh lifts his hand up in front of his face and stares at his hand. He focuses hard and suddenly electricity shoots out and around his arm. Josh begins to feel the power building up in him ready to get used.

"Never thought I miss doing this…quite shocking huh?" Josh says with a small smile

Everyone just shake their heads to Josh's small joke. Josh floats up and gets on his feet. He turns his head at the TV.

"E.D.I. I want you to stop analyzing the data from Everett's hard drive and focus mainly on Cyrus himself and his Five."

"I will start right away."

Josh nods and looks at everyone else. Suddenly Plague swooshes in and Josh looks.

"Right on time Plague."

"Back to normal?" Plague asks walking ahead

Josh shrugs.

"Only one way to find out.', Plague walks to the group, 'TK was just the beginning, before we even get within a mile of Cyrus will have to get through the Five first.', everyone nods, 'One down, four to go. They know where coming and will be more ready than they will be.', the group nods again, 'Were all in this together. We survive together, we fight together.', Josh lends out his hand, 'Who's with me?"

Vanellope blinks and walks ahead.

"I am."

Vanellope touches Josh's hand.

"Me too." Ralph says putting his hand out

"Me too brother."

"So am I." Calhoun says

"I will fight." Elizabeth says

Josh nods at everyone and looks at Plague.

"You don't have to. I can see it in your eyes. Just say it so we all don't get burned."

Plague makes a face and pulls out her sword. Josh watches as he puts it on the pile of hands.

"To kill my Father once and for all, I'm there."

Josh nods.

"Sounds good. Let's do this!"

Everyone throws their hands up and Josh snaps his thumbs.

"But first, let's finish those living quarters, I need everyone sleeping well and not on my couch and floor, does that sound good?"

The group chuckles and laugh. Josh backs up and crosses his arms. For the first time in a day, he smiles happily seeing his team before him.

End of Chapter 23…

Preview of Chapter 24…

With the team set and Josh helping build the sleeping quarters for everyone. Cyrus feels like Josh is catching up to fast towards him so he sends Darkness after him. Darkness knows better and will not be used up as a pawn like TK. So the two strike up a deal. If Darkness can slow down Josh, he can offer him anything he wants. So Darkness, is now Josh's big problem besides Cyrus. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 24 – The Darkness Part 1


	24. Chapter 24 - The Darkness Part 1

Chapter 24 – The Darkness Part 1

(Flash back)

The night after the Warehouse incident. Winter sits in his Chief's office, holding an ice pack to his head. While his boss rips him a new one.

"Thirty five men…thirty…five men WINTER!"

Winter squints to hearing his Boss's yelling.

"I know Sir."

"You don't know jack Winter! One boy? One boy did all this to my men?"

Winter shrugs.

"I'd be lying if I said no Sir."

"Shut up!" Chief says throwing his hands down on his desk

Winter nods and puts the ice pack back on his forehead.

"Yes Sir."

"This kid is driving, me, you and this whole department up the wall."

"He's a tough one, I'll give him that."

"Winter…', Chief looks serious and Winter sees, 'Shut it."

Winter nods.

"Of course Sir."

"Why haven't you found him yet?"

"He's harder to find then I thought."

"Then you thought? Are you kidding me? The great Agent Winter who 'Always gets his man' actually met his match?"

"I'll get him Sir. Trust me, I will."

"Oh I believe you Winter. But it seems to me your taking this a little too personally."

"He pointed a gun at me."

"And you also said he didn't shoot you either."

"That's correct."

"That shows how much of a 'cold blooded' killer he is."

"Don't let his age fool you."

"Right, right. Tell me something else, because I still don't get it.', Chief sits down and Winter touches the bump on his forehead where the ice is, 'Your telling me…this kid magically through a tornado at you and the teams?"

"No, I said, all of a sudden this tornado out of nowhere came flying and came at me and the teams."

"Then where did the tornado come from?"

"I don't know. The weather man said a little drizzle but no tornados."

"You think it was Litwak?"

"Sir?"

"I mean, from I see on TV, he doesn't exactly fit the 'normal' category."

"He's strange but there's no way he could have… 'summoned' a tornado out of thin air. That's impossible."

"And what about these…creature things that keep on attacking the people? Have you seem them Winter?"

Winter nods.

"Yes. There quite strange. Nothing that I've ever seen before."

"No one has I believe. So tell me this, how is it that are own law enforcement can't handle them, but Mr. Litwak can?"

Winter shrugs.

"I do not know Sir."

"You really think he's the bad guy?"

"He's not the good guy that's for sure."

"Says so from the guy who can read people…"

"Josh Litwak is a terrorist. He's responsible for the cause of why these kids all around are sick and getting worse."

"According to a report that you 'just' got out of nowhere."

"Sir?"

"Winter…do you see me as a fool?"

Winter shakes his head.

"No, Sir. I don't." Winter says with a look on his face

"How did you know Litwak was going to be at the Warehouse tonight? Hmm? You never told me your source."

"Right. I didn't, but the source, to whoever it was…"

"To whoever it was? You don't even have a name?"

"It seemed really reliable Sir."

"Winter…you just don't get random information without looking to find out who gave it to you. Whoever sent you on this wild goose chase is playing you."

"Then why would he send me right to where Litwak was?"

Chief shrugs.

"I don't know. Maybe this 'source' of yours is trying to get Mr. Litwak as well."

Winter shakes his head and puts the ice pack on his forehead.

"It still doesn't make a lick of sense."

"In the meantime then until you can make sense of all of it, I'm benching you until all the men recover."

Winter looks back at the Chief and stands up.

"But Sir, I'm fine, I can catch Litwak."

"I said, until the men recover from their injuries, you're behind a desk."

"But Sir if you bench me where just letting him slip further away."

"No Winter, you let him slip away when he 'shocked' you. Right?', Winter makes a face and looks down, 'Now get behind a desk. That's an order."

Winter doesn't even bother to say 'Yes Sir'. He just turns around and leaves the Chief's office going back to his desk. As Winter sits down, he looks at the piles of paper work he has to get finished. Winter looks at his monitor and sees a prison photo of Josh at the time he was sent in. He shakes his head and turns off the monitor.

"Damn kid…"

Winter then gets to work on the paper work.

(Present Day)

Cyrus's secret layer…

Cyrus wears a giant magnifying glass and carefully checks out his fungus that's growing around his desk. He hums to himself seeing his 'virus' is growing quite well. Cyrus keeps to himself acting like it's a garden or something. As Cyrus continues that, in the shadows behind him, Darkness appears and starts clapping. Cyrus doesn't respond to this at all.

"Well, well, well, congratulations Cyrus.', Cyrus sits up, 'Not only did you get Josh and TK together, Josh got rid of TK for you."

"My plans always work out well."

Darkness slowly starts to come out of the shadows.

"TK's dead."

"Yes, I'm aware of that Darkness." Cyrus says checking out his fungus

Darkness glides around.

"With his absence, his powers consumed into Josh."

Cyrus looks up and smiles.

"I know."

Darkness narrows his eyes.

"Josh now can do some of the things TK could do."

"I'm fully aware of that Darkness."

Darkness crosses his arms and narrows his eyes.

"You're awfully calm about this."

Cyrus stands up and laughs.

"I told you. It's all part of the plan."

"Care to share?"

Cyrus thinks for a moment and shrugs.

"Sure. With TK out of the way, I don't have to look over my shoulder no more."

"TK was an idiot, but he was powerful."

"True. So even though Josh 'has' his powers, I'm not worried one bit."

Cyrus opens his laptop and clicks on the keypad. Darkness just watches and brushes his hair back.

"By the way Darkness, are you doing anything tonight."

Darkness starts to walk away.

"No."

"Good, I need you…"

"No as in 'No I'm not doing anything for you'."

"Oh come on…"

"Forget it Cyrus."

"I'm not setting you up with Josh like I did with TK."

"Your smart on that part."

"Instead I want you…"

"Do I look like your pawn?"

"No Darkness I don't. But you're smart and more powerful enough to just screw around with Josh."

"Get Siren or Driver to do your work for you. Me, my schedule is busy."

"Siren and Driver are…unknown at the moment.', Darkness narrows his eyes and Cyrus sees, 'I can't find them."

"Well, how lucky for them."

"And let I see you here with me."

"Can't do much when the suns out."

"How unfortunate.', Darkness makes a face, 'Listen Darkness, I don't want you to engage Josh. I don't want you to even toy with him. I want you to show him what you're made of. Show him who he's up against. He may think he's stronger, but show him even with what he can do, he can't continue on."

"You serious?"

Cyrus shrugs.

"I broke his spirit when I showed him the hospital the children were at blew up."

"But he found out it was a lie."

Cyrus nods.

"Yes. But during that time, he lost all hope. Hope here Darkness…is the only thing Josh has. Destroying his hope, makes him weaker."

Darkness blinks and looks into the shadows. He waves his hand and suddenly small growling is heard. Darkness watches as small dark creatures crawl out of the shadows, darkling's. Dark little creatures with glowing yellow eyes. Darkness looks at his creations and his eyes glow yellow too…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh sits alone in his Living Room working in his work area. He screws in a screw with an electric hammer (Which of course is not plugged in). Josh sets it down and flips a strange looking box over and a monitor turns on as Josh charges it.

"Okay…now I put this in here…"

Josh slides in a glass chip like part and it slides right in like a piece of a puzzle. He nods and powers it up more. Josh nods at the screen and sees the 'LOADING' appears. He waits and it finishes uploading. The screen shows up saying 'No Characters Uploaded'. Josh nods and looks to his left and sees the surge bar he brought back with him when he left the Arcade. He diverts his eyes up to a small monitor showing all the characters from the Arcade games sleeping around, staying about, living in Game Central Station.

Josh sighs slowly and goes back to working on the 'box'. Around the corner, Elizabeth exits the bathroom after taking a 'cold' shower. Elizabeth dries her hair and wraps it up in a ponytail. She hums to herself and walks out into the Living room and sees no one around. Elizabeth turns and sees Josh at his work station.

"Where is everyone?"

Josh turns and looks back down at his 'box'.

"Down in the Factory."

Elizabeth walks towards Josh.

"Doing what?"

"Cleaning up the husks."

Elizabeth nods.

"Oh."

Josh shrugs.

"I did most of the work right?" Josh laughs nervously

Elizabeth sees Josh acting a little nervous about what he did. She kind of nods.

"Yeah, you did."

Josh shakes his head for even saying that. He grabs a fan off an old hard drive and snaps it into his 'box'. Elizabeth crosses her arms and looks at what Josh is doing with that 'box' in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

Josh is so focused, he looks back at the screen and it still says 'No Characters Uploaded'. He sighs hard and flips the 'box' around. Elizabeth sees.

"Josh."

Josh snaps out of it and looks at Elizabeth.

"Huh?"

"What is that thing?"

Josh looks at the 'box' and shrugs.

"To tell you the truth, I really don't know. I don't even have a name for it."

Elizabeth brushes her hair back.

"Then, what is it?"

Josh examines the 'box' and just stares at it.

"Remember when we went to the Arcade?', Josh asks looking up, Elizabeth nods and Josh looks back down, 'Tommy said something really interesting and it really caught my eye."

"What?"

"He said, if the characters are more alive than he thinks, and all the trouble I'm in, why don't they try to 'help' me."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes.

"So what are you saying?"

Josh shows off the 'box' to Elizabeth.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do with this thing."

Elizabeth stares at the box.

"Wait, you're going to actually get people to come out of that thing?"

Josh shrugs.

"Characters. There video game characters Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks kind of funny at Josh.

"People Josh. They _are_ people after all."

Josh diverts his around and sees Elizabeth is not exactly getting it or understanding.

"Elizabeth. There not human."

"Like you?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah like me."

"Can I ask you something Josh?"

Josh rubs his eye by Elizabeth's question and looks at the ground.

"Sure Elizabeth." Josh says looking back up

"Remember when I said I could cook up some recipes with the food everyone bought the other day?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah?"

"And I said, 'It will help our systems'.', Josh nods remembering, 'And then you said, 'Well our systems are different, will it work for me'?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Yeah. What about it?"

Elizabeth leans against the shelf beside her.

"Josh, I'm starting to notice your treating everyone here like there not even real."

Josh narrows his eyes and throws his head back.

"Not even real? Elizabeth, I'm not treating anybody here like that."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not." Josh says shaking his head

"But you sure are stating it to everyone.', Josh blinks after hearing Elizabeth say that, 'You keep saying your 'human'. But why can't we?"

Josh looks around as if the answer is flying around him.

"Because…', Josh points at himself, 'I'm different from you. We're not the same."

"How are we not?"

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Because…I wasn't designed. Uhhh…programmed. Do you know what it takes to make a human being compared to designing one from scratch?"

"Yes." Elizabeth says calmly

Josh sighs hard.

"Of course you do…"

"Would you like me to explain?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No! I know how a baby is made. Thank you very much."

Elizabeth smirks.

"I still don't see a difference Josh."

Josh rubs his face with an annoying look.

"I'm human. Simple is that Elizabeth. You, Plague…everyone else here. You're not. Your video game characters."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes. Josh sees the look Elizabeth is giving him and flinches back.

"What?"

"To you Josh, what's being 'human'?"

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know, what you see before you I guess."

"I see you. And I see exactly the same."

"I'm no girl Elizabeth. Just going to point that out."

Elizabeth moves closer.

"I know that.', Elizabeth gets close and Josh stands his ground, 'I have eyes. Just like you. I have a heart. Just like you. I have skin, fingers, lungs, a brain…', Elizabeth goes on and on and Josh gulps slowly, Elizabeth looks really hard at Josh, 'Just like you.', Josh just blinks, 'And if that doesn't count as being human, I don't know what is."

Elizabeth backs up and studies Josh's reaction to her comments. Josh thinks for a second and sighs.

"Well, damn it if you're going to use logic."

Elizabeth nods with a smile.

"Thank you."

Josh shakes his head and looks back at the 'box'. So does Elizabeth.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Elizabeth asks getting close

Josh spins around the device.

"I…I don't know…I need another chip here and a processor. I'm looking around and I don't see them. I'm', yawns, 'little tired. Especially after that life lesson you just gave me."

Elizabeth throws her eyes up and looks down.

"You're looking for a chip?" Elizabeth asks looking at a shelf

Josh scratches his eye.

"Yeah."

Elizabeth looks at each shelf and goes down. Josh looks and sees what Elizabeth is doing.

"What are you doing?"

Elizabeth looks bending over.

"Helping out."

Josh nods in a silly way. As Elizabeth bends down further looking at the bottom shelf. Josh diverts his eyes around and looks at Elizabeth's behind that's literally right in front of him. He blinks a couple times and shakes his head.

_Is this…Is this really happening?_

Josh snaps out of it and looks the other way. But his eyes can't help but keep them centered on what Elizabeth is doing. Elizabeth pushes a modem back and finds a chip.

"Ah! Found a chip." Elizabeth says standing back up

Josh rubs his face and takes the chip.

"Oh, thank you. Thanks a lot."

"A processor now?"

Josh nods. Elizabeth looks and sees a bunch of junk to Josh's left.

"Excuse me." Elizabeth says reaching over

"What are you?"

"Just hold on…"

Elizabeth literally throws herself right in front of Josh. Josh just blinks seeing Elizabeth's…upper body right in front of his face as she reaches over in the junk pile. He gulps blinking numerous times. Elizabeth struggles for a second and grabs the processor.

"There. Got it."

Josh shakes his head and grabs the processor.

"Thanks. Thank you Elizabeth. You've been a big help." Josh says wiping the sweat off his face

Elizabeth smiles.

"Anything I can do to help."

Josh sighs funny.

"You did more than that for me." Josh whispers

Elizabeth narrows her eyes wondering what Josh just said.

"Excuse me?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Josh clips in the chip and processor. He looks back at the screen and sees the words 'No Character Uploaded'. Josh looks back at his game wall and walks on over towards it. Elizabeth watches and follows. Josh looks through the rows of games and spots _Kingdom Hearts_. He nods with a smile.

"This was a GOOD game. A great game." Josh says sliding it out

Elizabeth narrows her eyes as Josh walks back to her.

"What is that?"

Josh pops open the screen and puts the video game inside.

"There's a few good characters inside this game. I know. I've played as the character throughout his adventure."

"Who?"

"Sora."

"Sora?"

"The main."

"Oh…"

"If I put this thing together right, I upload the characters file into my box thing. And when I activate it, he should come out and help."

"Is that all?"

The screen pops up of several different characters that are inside the game. Josh guides his finger along the screen and finds Sora.

"There you are."

Josh pushes the screen on Sora and his character profile or programming gets uploaded into the box. Josh takes out the disc and puts it back in the games box.

"Is that all Josh?"

Josh sighs slowly.

"No. That's not all. This is going to be hard to ask."

"What?"

"This box requires a lot of energy to work. That's obviously covered. I'm full of it."

"I got a feeling a 'but' is coming along."

"But, there's a certain… 'rip' action required to make the characters pop out.', Elizabeth looks shocked, 'I just need you to touch this thing like if you were opening a rip."

"Are you kidding me?"

Josh shakes his head.

"The way I see it it's just like when me and everyone escaped the Arcade. There has to be a door to walk through. Right now, there's no door."

"Josh…" Elizabeth says frantically

"The only thing that will come through is the character, nothing else."

Elizabeth pauses for a moment thinking about the idea. Josh blinks and smirks. He begins to look funny at Elizabeth and she notices. Elizabeth sees Josh looking like he's about to cry. She tilts her head back and Josh squints and looks sad. Elizabeth sighs and lends out her hand.

"Give it to me."

Josh continues to look sad and then smiles. He hands her the box and Elizabeth stares at it.

"What do I have to do?"

"Hold it like if you were opening a rip."

Elizabeth takes a deep breath.

"Okay…"

Elizabeth holds the box tight like she's opening a tear. Josh squints as he sees a bright light coming from Elizabeth. Elizabeth grunts trying to focus.

"Almost…got it!"

Josh backs up incase this goes horrible wrong. A small rip appears and suddenly the box sucks it in. Elizabeth breathes heavily and Josh sees that it works and smiles.

"All right. It worked." Josh takes it out of Elizabeth's hand

Josh examines the box and lifts it up high. Elizabeth shakes her head and looks down catching her breath.

"Eh bien là vous allez garçon stupide." Elizabeth says

Josh narrows his eyes and looks at Elizabeth. Elizabeth sees Josh looking at her.

"I know how to speak a few languages."

Josh nods.

"I'm not surprised. Especially French."

"Of course."

Josh shakes his head and walks past Elizabeth.

"Of course."

As Josh walks away. Elizabeth looks in the direction where Josh was standing. As Josh sets down the box he sort of smiles.

"Merci."

Elizabeth opens her eyes and turns around. Josh looks back and shrugs.

"The only word I know."

Elizabeth smiles to herself and laughs under her breath. Josh heads to the elevator and Elizabeth follows. The two go down to the Factory.

Inside the Factory…

The group continues to clean up the last of the husks in the Factory. Ralph throws the last husk into the pick-up truck and hits the back.

"Go Vanellope."

Vanellope puts the truck in Drive and drives out of the Factory. Ralph looks back with Calhoun and sees no husks left.

"And that's the last one." Ralph states

"Good. I'm done playing Miss Clean Up."

Felix walks by.

"I kind a like this new side to you Tamora." Felix says looking up

Calhoun blinks nervously and looks down.

"You-You what?"

"I do."

Calhoun wipes her hair out of her face and behind her ear. Josh and Elizabeth enter the Factory and Josh is just amazed.

"Wow! This place looks good. Minus all the dead husks around."

Everyone looks and sees Josh and Elizabeth walking towards them.

"We really worked hard." Ralph says

"Moving dead husks? That's a lot of work?" Josh asks

"Well who left dead husks around here in the first place?" Calhoun asks

Josh smiles and looks funny at Calhoun. Calhoun gulps and looks away. Josh looks up at the ceiling of the broken glass of the skylight.

"All right. As long as things are settled down here. I have to…', looks around, 'Where's Plague?', no one says anything, Josh looks annoyed, 'She left didn't she?', everyone nods, Josh sighs, 'God…" Josh says rubbing his face

Suddenly Vanellope comes driving back inside the Factory. Josh looks as Vanellope Parks. Vanellope glitches out of the pick-up and hops her way towards Josh.

"Hey Josh."

"Hi Vanellope."

Vanellope hugs Josh below his belt and smiles. She opens her eyes and gives off a narrowed look at Elizabeth who watches. Elizabeth watches and sees the look Vanellope just gave her. Vanellope backs up and looks up at Josh.

"Are you done with your thing? You've been at it all day."

Josh nods.

"Yeah I'm done. Only one way to find out if it works is the next time we go out somewhere."

"What were you building anyway?" Felix asks

Josh chuckles with a loss of words.

"Felix there is no name for how to describe what I built. But it will prove useful in the battle field."

"How exactly? Will it make all our problems go away?" Calhoun asks

Josh shakes his head.

"No, but will have more people on our team for a short while."

Calhoun narrows her eyes and Josh looks around.

"Well, the second Plague gets back could you tell her to wait, I need to have a word with her. Thank you all." Josh says walking

"Wait, where you going now?" Ralph asks

Josh looks back at everyone looking at him.

"I'm only going to the store. No Root Beer remember?', some of them shake their heads, 'I'll be back in a half an hour."

"I'll come with you." Vanellope says walking ahead

Josh stops and looks back.

"No. I'm going alone."

"Why?"

Josh sighs and looks around.

"Well the last time we all left we came back home to a home full of husks. From now on a few people stay back to watch are home. Okay?"

Elizabeth nods.

"Your right.', Vanellope looks back, 'We don't want to go through all that again."

Vanellope puts her hands in her hoody. Josh nods.

"Yeah…I'll be back in half an hour, forty five minutes."

"How can you be so sure?"

Josh looks back as he walks.

"If I fly a half an hour. If I walk, forty five. Life sentence if I get caught.', the group then looks worried, Josh sees and smiles, 'Don't worry. It's getting dark out, I'll have the night sky to cover my tracks. Besides, the law has more important things to do besides to look for me."

"Is that even true?" Calhoun asks

Josh's smiling face turns around and drops as he walks out of the Factory.

"I have no idea."

Josh leaves. The group just stands there, Ralph, Vanellope, Felix, Calhoun and Elizabeth.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh flies up the shaft and grabs some spare cash. As he walks back to the elevator shaft he realizes he doesn't have his staff. Josh reaches back and feels it missing. He thinks for a second and shakes his head.

"I'm going to the Grocery Store, I don't think I need my weapons."

Josh walks back over to his work space and puts down his stun gun and disc blade. But as Josh walks away, he spots his 'box' on the table and slowly picks it up. Josh stares at it and slides it in his pocket.

"You never know…"

As Josh walks away, E.D.I. informs him about Cyrus.

"Josh. I have information on Cyrus."

Josh stops and turns around.

"Really? Great. What is it?"

"Do you recall a thousand copies from Mr. Everett's office?"

"Yeah, do you know what they are?"

"I'm pretty sure I know what they are, but they could be nothing."

Josh sort of smiles.

"E.D.I., through my time with you I've never heard you say 'I'm pretty sure'."

"The reason I say that is because I'm not sure if Cyrus is trying to distract me from the main source or is trying to trick me."

"He knows your trying to run a scan to him."

"Yes. Every time I go to find a source the route suddenly changes and it goes to a dummy address."

Josh sighs.

"Do you know what the thousand copies are at least?"

A moment passes by.

"I'm sorry Josh. It's either a thousand husks being shipped around or infected computers of his virus."

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Either one is just worse. But I doubt Cyrus would 'ship' his husks around the country. Geez, just hearing that sounds like the beginning of the end.', takes a deep breath, 'Okay, E.D.I., just find out, EXACTLY what Cyrus shipped around. No guessing here."

"Understood."

Josh turns around and leaves.

Streets…

It's dark. It's night. And the street lights aren't even on yet. As Josh walks down the street, hearing a cricket cricketing, the street lights of the street finally turn on and Josh sees them. Josh shakes his head and continues further down the street walking. In the distance, behind Josh, Darkness watches behind a corner and sees Josh heading in a certain direction. Around Darkness, a dark aura emits off of him spreading darkness all around. Suddenly little darklings come crawling out of Darkness's darkness and Darkness stops them.

"Not yet my brothers. Wait until he's surrounded by darkness."

The darklings craw back into Darkness's darkness. Darkness just watches and keeps a long distance from Josh.

Grocery Store…

Josh stands in line and waits to use the self-checkout. He's next and goes up to it. As Josh scans the Root Beer, he goes to touch the screen but the electricity in him short circuits the machine and the machine thinks Josh paid for his item. Josh narrows his eyes and looks around. He shrugs and takes it.

"Sweet."

Josh takes his Root Beer and leaves the Grocery Store.

Streets…

As Josh walks down the street. Josh pops off the Root Beer and starts drinking. He sighs in relief and gets back the taste in his mouth.

"Ahhh…that hit the spot…"

Josh starts humming to himself and enjoys the night sky. As Josh walks down the street, Darkness appears right behind him staying in the shadows. Darkness goes in and out getting closer and closer to Josh. Josh continues to hum to himself and feels like…something is on his back.

"Mmm? What the?"

Josh ignores it and continues walking. Darkness gets closer to Josh almost breathing on his back. Josh feels a chill and suddenly turns around. He sees nothing. Josh looks around and sees no one around. He looks up at the street light shining bright above him. Josh looks around one more time and shrugs.

"Okay…"

As Josh turns around and walks forward, the street lights suddenly start going out. Josh quickly looks at them and sees them go out through the whole street. He looks left and right and walks out into the street. Josh carefully sets down his Root Beer and clenches his fists.

"Okay…if someone's out here…show yourself right now…because this whole dark thing…is not getting to me."

Josh reach back to grab his staff, but then he remembers that it's not even there.

"Right…"

Suddenly growling can be heard. Josh narrows his eyes and turns around. As he turns, he sees yellow eyes in the darkness around him.

"What the?"

Josh's eye's adjust to the darkness around. He begins to see what it is and Josh backs up disgusted.

"The hell is that?"

Darkness then appears behind Josh emitting darkness off his hand.

"My brother', Josh flinches forward, 'say hello to him."

Josh almost spins around but Darkness shoots out a wave of his dark energy and Josh goes flying at the darkling.

"WHOA!"

Josh lands hard on the ground and basically scratches his face up from the pavement.

"OW!', Josh rubs his face, 'Ooooh…"

Darkness walks ahead.

"Say hello to my brother Josh."

"Huh…"

Josh looks up and sees the ugly darkling in front of him, softly growling and drooling. He backs up frantically.

"WHOA!"

Josh stands back up and turns his head around serious at Darkness.

"Who are you!?"

Darkness disappears into the dark and Josh narrows his eyes. Josh looks around in the dark trying to find Darkness.

"Where are you…where are you?!" Josh says looking around

Darkness appears behind Josh and whispers into his ear.

"Right here."

As Josh spins around to punch Darkness, Darkness grabs him and he emits his dark energy into Josh almost paralyzing him.

_Wha? What's happening to me? I, I can't move!_

Darkness keeps Josh down on his knees holding out his right arm. He keeps his left hand on the back of Josh's neck emitting his dark energy on him while he holds out his right hand. Josh tries to look up and as he looks up, he gets a clear view of Darkness. His eyes glow bright yellow in the darkness. He has long black hair and his skin looks pale. Josh tries to speak but it looks like it's hard for Josh to speak.

"Who…ar…are…y…you?"

"My name is Darkness."

Josh narrows his eyes still struggling.

"Ser…Serious…ly?"

"Yes."

Josh blinks slowly.

"You guys…ha…have…the strangest…names…"

"It will be the last name you ever hear."

Josh looks serious.

"You…do…don't…scare me."

Darkness holds Josh's arm really tight at his shoulder. Josh narrows his eyes and tries to look at his shoulder.

"How about now?"

Darkness then all of a sudden yanks on Josh's right shoulder and dislocates it. Josh just throws his head up screaming.

"AHHHHHH!"

Darkness just looks calm and delighted. He then reaches towards his fingers.

"How about this?"

Darkness pulls out Josh's index finger.

"OWW!" Josh yells

"What about this one?"

Darkness pulls out Josh's middle finger.

"SON OF A!"

Darkness smirks at Josh's other finger.

"You won't be needing this."

Darkness pulls out Josh's ring finger. Cracks are head and Josh holds it in and grunts hard.

"Uhhhh!"

"Tough guy huh?"

Darkness finally let's go and pushes Josh down on the ground. Josh pushes himself away from Darkness to catch his breath. Darkness just watches the helpless Josh holding his right hand carefully. He shakes his head.

"And you defeated TK?"

Josh bites his lip.

"You bet I did."

Darkness rolls his eyes.

"TK was an idiot. Powerful, but still an idiot."

Josh catches his breath.

"So I guess you're next huh?"

"Me? Oh no. I'm smarter and more powerful than TK."

Josh begins to laugh. Darkness notices.

"And why are you laughing?"

Josh looks down at his hand.

"I'm going to enjoy doing what you did to me…Darkness."

Darkness nods.

"I won't see it. And neither will you."

Darkness starts to emit off dark energy around him. Josh just sees what Darkness is doing. Suddenly more darklings come out of Darkness's shadow and Josh clearly sees he's really out numbers. Josh starts to crawl away but he's still too weak. Darkness's eyes shine brighter. Josh tries to crawl away and suddenly remembers.

"Oh yeah…"

Josh reaches down inside his coat and pulls out his box. The darklings get closer and Josh looks at the box.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

"Get him!" Darkness orders

The darklings charge at Josh and Josh pushes his finger into the screen on Sora who 'might' be in the box.

"Come on Sora! HELP ME!"

The darklings get closer and suddenly a bright light goes off. Darkness covers himself and looks the other way.

"Ow!"

Darkness looks back and suddenly swipe after swipe, the actual Sora from the _Kingdom Heart _games takes down each darkling with a swing of his keyblade. Josh looks back and sees a life size being of Sora.

"Sora?"

Sora looks back.

"You okay?"

Josh sighs in relief.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you now Sora."

"Heartless?"

Josh shrugs.

"Something along the lines.', Darkness sighs and snaps his thumbs, Josh sees but Sora doesn't, 'Behind you!"

Sora spins around and attacks the darklings that are coming at him. One swipe of his keyblade and Sora takes them down with no problem at all. Josh backs up and Sora sees that they keep on coming.

"Go, run away!" Sora orders

"You got it?" Josh asks standing up

"The heartless are no match up to my keyblade."

Josh nods and runs away quickly limping. Sora keeps on fighting and taking down each darkling coming at him. Josh looks back and sees Sora is handling all the darklings all to himself. But do to his condition, he's in no condition to fight. Josh quickly pulls out his box and sees on the screed saying 'Character Out'. He looks back and sees Sora getting surrounded. Darkness just watches as he gets the upper hand. Josh pushes the button and Sora suddenly disappears. Darkness looks around wondering where Sora went. Josh looks down at the box and sees it now saying 'Character Returned'. Darkness narrows his eyes at Josh and Josh waves back with his other hand.

"Later Darkness!"

Josh shoots up flying horribly in the air. Darkness just watches seeing Josh running for his life and not being able to fight back. He sort of smiles and calls off his darklings. Darkness turns around and disappears into the shadows.

Cyrus's Secret Layer…

Cyrus looks at a blueprint of a strange looking machine. He nods seeing that it has to be done.

"Now…to complete it."

Footsteps are heard and Cyrus looks up. Cyrus sees Darkness walking out of the dark and looks back down at the blueprint.

"How did it go?"

"He got the message."

Cyrus smiles.

"See? I knew I could rely on you."

Cyrus goes back to looking at his blueprint. Darkness nods and walks away.

"Am I done now? I have somewhere else I would love to be."

Cyrus waves his hand.

"Sure, go away."

Darkness nods. As Darkness walks away, Cyrus suddenly remembers and looks up.

"On second thought, I have another favor to ask Darkness.', Darkness turns around, 'I need one of your darklings."

Darkness narrows his eyes.

"Why?"

Cyrus shrugs.

"I'm running a little experiment. I need one of your darklings if you don't mind."

Darkness doesn't respond. Cyrus waits and Darkness snaps his thumb. A darklings appears out of the dark and walks towards Cyrus.

"If you want more, it's going to cost you big."

Cyrus smiles.

"I only need one."

Darkness turns back around and leaves. Cyrus looks down at the drooling, growling darkling.

"Oh I have some wonderful plans with you."

The darkling twitches and Cyrus just watches it.

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone is waiting for Josh's return. He said he'd be back in less than an hour, but it's been more than that. Vanellope walks back and forth nervously. Elizabeth and Plague notice and see Vanellope worried. Plague sighs hard.

"Would you stop that? It's getting annoying."

Vanellope stops and looks at Plague. She starts to walk back and forth again. Elizabeth leans forward off the couch and tries to reassure Vanellope.

"Vanellope, I reassure you Josh will probably be back soon."

"Didn't you already say that?" Plague asks

Elizabeth looks funny at Plague. Plague looks away and Elizabeth looks back at Vanellope.

"Vanellope, don't be so nervous."

Vanellope looks back at Elizabeth.

"Easy for you to say. Goes to show how worried you are about him."

"I am worried, but…"

"But what? There is no 'buts'."

"Right. Right."

"So keep worrying like I am."

"Vanellope, relax.', Vanellope looks at Calhoun, 'Will give it another ten minutes. If Josh doesn't come back, will all go out to look for him."

"Oh…great." Plague says leaning against her sword

Vanellope, Elizabeth and Calhoun look at Plague. A couple seconds go by and Vanellope forgets the plan.

"I'm going." Vanellope says jumping ahead

Elizabeth and Calhoun get up.

"Vanellope. Stop." Calhoun orders

"No, I'm not waiting anymore."

Ralph stands up.

"Kid, let's just wait."

"No! I'm not waiting anymore. I'm going out there and nothing can stop me."

Suddenly Josh crashes through the windows of the Apartment and everyone looks. Josh lands on the table and breaks the legs. Felix jumps up and behind the couch. Everyone slowly approaches and sees that its Josh.

"Josh!" Vanellope yells

Vanellope and Elizabeth go to check Josh. He moans as he lays his head on the ground halfway off the table. Plague looks and nods.

"How about that kid?', Calhoun nudges Plague and she shakes it off, 'Well…now we know Josh can't leave his own home without getting the crap beat out of him."

Calhoun looks hard at Plague and back at Josh.

"Let's move him up. Carefully."

Calhoun takes charge in moving Josh. Josh moans as he's picked up and moved to the couch. He bobs his head and looks around.

"Guys?"

"Josh, just relax." Calhoun orders

"I…I can't…" Josh says looking down

"Why?" Calhoun asks

Josh uses his left hand to pick up his right hand. Elizabeth sees how badly injured it is.

"Oh my." Elizabeth says covering her mouth

"It's official…now I have two dislocated shoulders…', everyone looks at each other and back at Josh, Josh sighs slowly, 'And that's not the worst of it."

"What?" Ralph asks

Josh leans his head back.

"I met another one of the Five…and he's…quite Dark."

Plague turns around.

"Darkness?"

Josh snaps his finger with his left hand.

"Bingo!"

"Oh boy…"

Calhoun looks at Plague.

"Who's Darkness?"

Plague sighs.

"Darkness is like Cyrus, but…at least when the sun is out, your safe. But when the sun goes away…you'd pray for Cyrus to get you then Darkness. Because he controls the night."

"And the dark." Josh says

Plague rolls her eyes.

"And the dark…"

Josh sighs slowly.

"He jumped me…got me good…"

"How'd you manage to get away?" Felix asks

Josh shrugs.

"I…called in a friend who deals with dark things. Hasn't lost his touch."

Josh sighs slowly and looks down at his dislocated shoulder, arm, hand and fingers. He shakes his head and throws his head back.

End of Chapter 24…

Preview of Chapter 25…

With Josh healing from his injuries from meeting Darkness, E.D.I. finds out that Cyrus is doing something else besides infecting more kids. Finding out what Cyrus is up to, Josh is going to need an army to storm Cyrus's place and it's not going to be easy. So Josh is going to need to call only one group of people who might help…S.W.A.T. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 25 – Third Choice Part 1

The Darkness series will be split apart, since this is Part 1, other parts will come later instead of in order.


	25. Chapter 25 - Third Choice Part 1

Chapter 25 – Third Choice Part 1

Josh's Apartment…

Josh carefully rubs his face with his left hand and feels the small cuts and bruises. He shakes his head and bobs his eyes.

"Could someone like…get me an ice pack? Or a bag of cold peas please? I'm in a lot…of pain here.', looks at arm and hand, 'Don't I look like it?"

Everyone examines Josh's condition. Josh sigh slowly seeing no one is helping.

"Fine. I'll get the ice pack."

Vanellope and Elizabeth throw their hands at Josh and make him sit back down on the couch.

(Same time)

"No!"

Josh feels a slight painful push on his shoulder when the two threw him back down.

"Ow…" Josh says looking at his bruised hand

"I'll get it." Elizabeth says standing up

But Vanellope jumps and runs to the fridge.

"I got it!"

Elizabeth shakes her head and sits back down next to Josh. Plague shakes her head sitting down on the chair over in the corner.

"It must be nice."

Josh narrows his eyes and looks at Plague.

"What must be nice? I'm not exactly in a 'well' state here Plague."

"Oh no. Not that Josh. Not that at all.', Josh waits for Plague's reply, 'It must be nice to have several women do anything for you on hand and foot."

Vanellope comes back with a frozen bag of vegetables. Josh shakes his head and Elizabeth covers her face.

"It's not like that Plague." Josh says

"Not from where I'm sitting."

"Would you mind going to the Grocery Store then?" Josh asks

"No."

"See? I don't see you do anything for me on your hands and feet."

Plague sighs hard from Josh's comment. Calhoun shakes her head and walks around the couch.

"Who is Darkness anyway?"

"As I explained before, he's as worse as Cyrus but only at night." Plague explains

Calhoun looks at Plague and back at Josh.

"So he just ambushed you?"

Josh nods slowly and takes the bag of vegetables from Vanellope. Vanellope climbs up on the couch and sits next to Josh. Josh puts the bag of vegetables against his face.

"Yeah. Knocked out every light in the street and jumped me. I couldn't see him or hit him."

"Why?" Vanellope asks

Josh gulps and looks kinda stupid.

"I…didn't have my weapons on me.', everyone looks at Josh and he sees, 'I went to the Grocery Store. I didn't think I was going to get jumped like that."

"He certainly did a number on you." Plague says

Elizabeth looks at Plague.

"Shut up Plague."

Plague gets up and walks away. Josh turns his head and sees Plague leaving.

"Where you going?"

Plague looks back as everyone looks at her.

"If I'm not needed here I'm leaving."

Josh quickly gets up as he literally slumps over leaving his arm down to hang like a fish on a hook.

"No. I need you right now. All of you.', Plague stops and turns around, 'If Darkness is more powerful when it's night. Then were vulnerable until the sun comes up."

"What do you want us to do?" Calhoun asks

Josh slowly turns.

"We got to make sure this place is secure. Lock all doors. The Garage door. Windows. Even the hallways and offices. In the morning, will figure out a way to get lights on in the lower levels so Darkness can slip his way through in here."

"Understood. Everyone, let's go." Calhoun orders

Calhoun walks past Plague and she stands still. She looks back and pulls Plague along with her to go.

"You too fire ball."

Plague gets out of Calhoun's hand and board the elevator. Felix, Ralph and Vanellope get on too. Elizabeth walks ahead and Josh stops her, he points his hand at her.

"Elizabeth stop.', Elizabeth turns around, 'I need you to stay for a second."

Everyone boards the elevator and Calhoun shuts the door.

"You rest up Josh. Will take care of everything."

Josh nods. Vanellope notices Elizabeth is staying behind. She looks down and back up as the elevator goes down. Elizabeth crosses her arms as Josh leans against the couch looking away.

"What is it Josh?"

Josh takes a deep breath.

"I'm praying right now that through your time locked up in that Tower of yours…', Elizabeth blinks, 'You read a book or two about…healing others. Fixing body parts."

Elizabeth shrugs.

"Like a doctor?"

Josh smiles happily.

"I couldn't have put it in a better word."

Elizabeth struggles with the idea.

"I can't exactly say I have my PhD…"

Josh shakes his head nervously.

"Can you at least check me out? I've never dislocated my right shoulder before. Only with my left. Please Elizabeth…', Elizabeth sees the look on Josh's face, 'I really need help here…no one else can."

Elizabeth rubs her eye and nods.

"Of course."

Josh nods. Elizabeth points.

"Sit down on the couch."

Josh does exactly what Elizabeth wants. Elizabeth stand right behind Josh behind the couch.

"Let me see your arm."

Josh tries to lift his arm up but can't, Elizabeth takes it and examines it. Elizabeth sees how badly damaged Josh is.

"How did you let Darkness do this to you?"

Josh blinks.

"I just didn't 'let' him do this to me. He grabbed me and when he touched me, I couldn't move my body. It was like he paralyzed me."

"Paralyzed you?"

"I couldn't move. Barely speak…and while I was completely helpless, Darkness rips off my arm and fingers."

"Oh my…Josh…you really think going out by yourself was a really good idea?"

Elizabeth begins to work a little on Josh's shoulder.

"Now that I think about it, it wasn't really a good idea."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"Nice to see your own failure."

Josh sighs slowly.

"It wouldn't be my first."

Elizabeth examines further on Josh's shoulder. It's really bad.

"Josh, this is very bad. You're really hurt, you need a real doctor."

Josh looks back.

"Right now. Your my doctor.', Josh smirks and looks back, 'If I stay like this I might need a little help taking a bath later, would you like to help me?"

Elizabeth smirks and grabs Josh's shoulder. She 'pops' it back in and all you hear is just a loud crack. Josh just shows a painful expression.

"Owwwww….mmmm.', Josh shakes his head, 'You know Elizabeth…your bedside manner needs a little work."

Elizabeth smacks the back of Josh's head.

"So does your timing."

"Hey…take it easy will ya?"

Elizabeth leans forward.

"Show me your hand."

Josh lifts his hands and Elizabeth sees his fingers.

"This is terrible. Who did this?"

"Same guy who did the shoulder Elizabeth. When he was done with my arm, he worked his way up to my fingers."

Elizabeth sighs slowly.

"This is going to hurt."

Josh nods.

"I know.', sighs hard, 'Just do it all at once."

Elizabeth nods.

"Okay."

Elizabeth grabs all three of Josh's fingers. Josh blinks and Elizabeth pulls them and all Josh hears is a LOUD crack. He takes the pain in slowly…breathing through his nose and Elizabeth watches. Josh lets out a big puff of air and slowly opens his eyes.

"Ow…" Josh says softly

Josh looks down at his right hand and wiggles his fingers. They still hurt just a bit, but he ignores it and gets up.

"Thanks Elizabeth." Josh says limping away

Elizabeth looks down and sees the frozen bag of vegetables on the table Josh left behind. She reaches over to grab it and looks at Josh.

"Josh?', Josh turns around and sees the bag, 'Do you want this?"

Josh shrugs like he cares.

"It's probably thawed out…pretty useless now."

Elizabeth looks down and her hand turns to ice. Josh watches as Elizabeth re-freezes the bag and tosses them to Josh. He catches them and feels how cold it is. Josh snickers and puts it to his head.

"Must be nice to have ice powers…"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"The only normal thing that I can control."

Josh nods and turns around. He walks to his room and shuts the door. Elizabeth looks at the elevator and goes down.

The Factory…

Ralph shuts the big doors leading outside. Calhoun goes to each exit of the Factory and makes sure each one is closed. Plague just looks around, spinning her sword around just seeing everyone working. Felix hops around while Vanellope stays near Ralph. Elizabeth enters the Factory and walks up alongside Plague. Plague doesn't turn her head, but she knows Elizabeth is standing next to her.

"How's the patient?"

Elizabeth nods.

"Josh needs a night of rest. Hopefully he'll be back to normal in the morning."

"Is that your 'medical' opinion?"

Elizabeth throws her eyes up making a face.

"Are you actually worried about someone other than yourself?"

Plague shrugs.

"I'm not worried about Josh, I'm just wondering if our 'leader' will survive another day."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"Josh will pull through this. He's been through worse."

Plague smiles.

"Right. Says so from the princess who got locked away in a Tower all her life."

Elizabeth looks more annoyed.

"Says so from the girl whose own Father tried to kill but shocked to him, his virus gave you powers which in return leaves burn marks everywhere."

Plague bites her tongue.

"Don't forget fire melts ice."

Elizabeth smirks.

"How can you start a fire when you're surrounded by zero degree temperature?"

Plague nods.

"Will see. Will see Snow Queen." Plague says walking away

Elizabeth crosses her arms and watches Plague walk ahead. She sighs slowly seeing Plague is trying to get under her skin.

Out in the City…

Cyrus's Building…

Rooftop…

Cyrus walks out on the Rooftop. The darkling from when Darkness gave him crawls behind Cyrus. Cyrus walks up to a strange looking machine with two glass boxes on each side of the main control unit.

"Okay…let's see…"

Cyrus looks back and sees the darkling acting like an idiot. The darkling digs it's claws into the gravel of the roof top and Cyrus rolls his eyes.

"Hey. You!', the darkling looks up and Cyrus points at the left box, 'Go in there."

The darkling looks at the glass box Cyrus is pointing at and it looks back at Cyrus. Cyrus looks more serious.

"Now!"

The darkling jumps laughing hysterically. It walks into the box and Cyrus rolls its eyes.

"Dumb as shit…"

Cyrus looks back and sees one of his husks just slowly bobbing his head against the wall. He shakes his head and makes the husk go into the box. Cyrus shakes his head.

"Infected as hell but very stupid. All right. Let's see if this works…"

Cyrus hits a switch and the machine turns on. He steps back as electricity whirls around inside both glass boxes and something starts happening to the darkling and husk inside each. The husk and darkling start to spaz out and jump all over the place. A bright light shoots out and Cyrus covers his eyes. The machine begins to calm down and Cyrus looks back.

"Did it work?"

The glass boxes are filled with smoke and it's hard to see anything inside them. Cyrus walks back to the control panel and opens the doors. The smoke pours out and Cyrus looks at the door with his husk inside.

"Come on out now…"

The feet of the husk stand out and Cyrus just smiles seeing his 'new' creation.

"Oh yes."

Cyrus then looks at the other door with the darkling inside and it steps out. He just smiles seeing the new and 'improved' looking husk.

"Oh this is definitely a start to a new evolution."

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's Room…

Following Morning…

Josh is sound asleep on his bed with his arms and hands wrapped around his head. He snores a little and flinches. In his dreams, it's like he's looking through the eyes of someone, but the vision is blurry, so Josh can't exactly see everything clearly. Through the eyes of the person, they put their hands to some kind of control console and pulls a lever down. The eyes look left and right at these glass boxes and Josh opens his eyes gasping. Josh breathes heavily and lifts his head up. He looks around his room and sees he's just or was sleeping. Josh throws his head back down and shakes his head annoyingly.

"Can't I just have one good night's rest?"

Josh throws his legs down and looks down at his arm and hand. He checks his shoulder and finds everything in 'place'. Josh moves down and sees his fingers are working well and moving up and down making a fist. He sighs slowly.

"Okay…at least I have my fingers back."

Josh concentrates and short bursts of electricity shoot out and around his fingers. He engulfs the current and stands up.

"Let's start our day…"

Josh walks to his door and out to his Living Room.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks out into his Apartment and sees everyone, except Plague around the contour.

"Morning everyone."

Everyone looks back.

(All at once)

"Morning Josh."

"Hey Josh." Vanellope says

Josh walks to the far end of the counter and Vanellope sits alongside Josh. He sighs slowly and rubs his face. Josh looks through his eyes and sees everyone eating something that he's never seen before.

"And what are you all…eating?"

Elizabeth turns around carrying a pan, wearing an apron and holding a spatula.

"Everyone's eating something that I've cooked up." Elizabeth explains

Josh nods.

"Huh?"

"And what are we 'eating'?"

Elizabeth nods.

"Le petit déjeuner."

Josh narrows his eyes. He looks at everyone and Elizabeth looks back at Josh with a lost look on his face.

"Breakfast."

Josh nods.

"Oh. Just say that. But what 'did' you make."

Elizabeth nods smiling.

"Oh, of course. Silly of me. It's just your basic tartines…"

Josh shakes his head.

"Elizabeth. English please?"

Elizabeth sighs.

"Bread with a mixture of American type jam."

Josh nods.

"Sounds good."

"I also made some croissants. And some pain aux raisins.', Josh almost says it but Elizabeth stops him, 'Raisin bread Josh."

Josh nods. Calhoun and Felix eat some.

"This is really good." Felix says

Elizabeth nods.

"I must admit, it's really good."

"Thank you Calhoun."

Josh looks up and sees Ralph just digging into a big slice. He shakes his head and crosses his arms.

"How is it Ralph?"

"Mm mm mm., good.'

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Chew, swallow and then talk."

Ralph throws his head up and swallows without chewing.

"I said it's very good."

Josh smiles and shakes his head.

"Feel good about yourself Elizabeth, getting 'good' out of Ralph comes a long way."

Elizabeth goes back to the stove. Josh looks down and sees Vanellope not eating.

"Vanellope?', Vanellope looks up, 'Why aren't you eating?"

Vanellope shrugs.

"I'm not really hungry."

"Oh come on…"

"I am."

Elizabeth turns around.

"Actually I made one that you might like Vanellope. It has chocolate inside it. Pain au chocolat."

Vanellope shakes her head.

"No thank you."

"Vanellope." Josh says

"I'm not hungry."

Josh narrows his eyes and looks at Elizabeth. Elizabeth looks somewhat disappointed and Josh rubs his face. Josh looks around some more and notices Plague not around.

"Where's Plague?"

Calhoun swallows.

"Down in the Factory."

"Doing what?"

"Don't know. Said she didn't want to be bothered." Ralph explains

Josh sighs and gets up.

"I'll be right back."

"Josh…" Elizabeth says

Josh looks back walking backwards.

"I need to have a word with her anyway. Everyone just stay here and I'll be right back."

Josh hops down the elevator shaft and everyone goes back to eating.

The Factory…

Plague swings her sword around practicing her sword fighting. The blade heats up and turns red. As Plague swings, embers fall down on the floor. Suddenly Josh walks into the Factory and sees Plague swinging her sword around several times. Josh slowly walks up to her and waves.

"Yoo-hoo!', whistles, 'Hey!', Plague stops and sees Josh waving at her, 'Hi."

Plague goes back to sword playing.

"What do you want Josh?"

"Elizabeth made some breakfast. Why don't you come up and have some?"

"I don't want any."

"Why?"

"I'm not eating anything Queen Ice Cube makes."

Josh sighs.

"You're as worse as Vanellope."

"Don't compare me to that runt."

"Hey!"

"She's annoying. Sometimes in my way. Compare her to Elizabeth. I don't care."

"You know, you don't have to separate yourself from us. Were all on the same team."

"I don't work well with 'teams'."

"Well you're on one right now."

Plague pauses.

"Don't remind me."

Plague continues swinging her sword around and Josh realizes something.

"Where do you go when you're not here?', Plague stops and looks at Josh, 'Your gone for a long time. I'm just wondering where you go."

Plague goes back to sword slicing.

"Here and there."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Does it matter?"

Josh looks serious and steps forward. He pulls out his staff and as Plague throws her sword down, Josh hits it and Plague looks directly at Josh.

"Because for a girl who doesn't work well with teams and makes stupid ass comments about everyone here. You sure do spend a lot of time doing something away from here."

Plague looks serious and swings her sword up. Josh deflects it as sparks fly with Plague hits Josh's staff. Plague backs up.

"I see things that I haven't seen before.', Josh just blinks hearing Plague's answer, 'Just in case Cyrus wins and rules the world, I would like to see it before he changes everything."

"That's not going to happen."

"You can't say that. Darkness alone kicked the shit out of you and that was by himself. Cyrus on the other hand is much worse."

"I'll deal with it as it comes."

"And when you're not breathing and not moving, how are you supposed to stop him then?"

Josh sighs and spins his staff around.

"Always the downer huh?"

"I'm just being honest that's all."

"A little to honest don't you think."

Plague shrugs.

"Whatever…"

Plague walks away. Josh sighs and brushes his hair back.

"How about I make a deal with you."

Plague looks back.

"A deal?"

"The deal is…you start treating everyone here with a little more respect and I'll look the other way when it comes down to fighting husks or whatever."

"Look the other way?"

Josh nods.

"You can do whatever you want your way. I won't tell you stop as long as you don't hurt anyone unless you have to, deal?"

Plague thinks about the offer for a second and Josh waits for a reply. She shrugs and nods.

"All right."

Josh thumbs up and Plague points her sword.

"I get to do whatever I want. You tell me to stop, deals off."

Josh puts his hands up.

"Fine. As long as you don't go crazy."

"Describe 'crazy'."

Josh makes a face.

"You know exactly what I mean Plague."

Plague smirks.

"Okay…thought I just ask."

"Come on. Let's go back up right now."

"Now?"

"Plague."

"Jeez, okay…"

Josh and Plague go back up to his Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

Plague and Josh take the elevator back up. Elizabeth turns her head as Josh throws up the door. She looks back down and sets down more of her bread she made. Josh and Plague go to the counter. He looks around and sees Vanellope at the TV watching it. Calhoun is cleaning her gun at the other end of the counter. Felix is in the other rooms examining them. And Ralph, is laying up against the wall sleeping.

"Nice to see everyone productive." Josh comments

Plague sees Ralph.

"You call that', Plague points, 'productive?"

Josh rolls his eyes. He looks down and sees the extra leftover bread.

"Do you mind?" Josh asks reaching for one

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"No. Go right ahead?" Elizabeth says with a small smile

Josh takes it and looks at Plague.

"Hungry?', Plague turns her head at Josh like she's going to kill him, Josh gulps and walks around her, 'Thought I just ask.', eats more, 'Mmm. This is good."

Josh goes to sit down next to Vanellope. Vanellope moves over and Josh gets comfortable. As Josh gets comfortable, E.D.I. shows up on screen and cuts away from the show Vanellope was watching.

"Hey!"

"Excuse me Vanellope. Josh?"

"What is it E.D.I.?" Josh asks only looking at the bread

"I have found something."

"Is it important?"

"Yes."

Josh bobs his head.

"And are you sure it's 100% accurate?"

"If you are trying to refer to my search of our last conversation. Then yes, I'm 100% sure accurate."

Josh leans forward.

"Okay. Show me what you found."

"Certainly."

E.D.I. fades away and shows camera footage of a nearby building's rooftop. Everyone sort of watches, except Ralph who's asleep and Felix in the other rooms. Josh narrows his eyes watching this fast-forward footage.

"E.D.I. what am I looking at?"

E.D.I. appears over the footage and pauses the moment Cyrus pops up.

"Cyrus."

Everyone looks shocked and they focus really hard on the TV.

"Cyrus?', Josh stands up, 'What's he doing now?"

"According to my scans and watching carefully, it seems like Cyrus has built some kind of combination machine."

Josh narrows his eyes and looks back at the four girls. He looks back at E.D.I.

"A what- machine?"

"I've watches Cyrus do this a few times now. He's placed his husks in one box and some sort of creature in the other. After a few seconds, boss subjects walk out not looking the same as they did when they went in."

Josh shakes his head strangely.

"Show me."

E.D.I. steps to the side and quickly speeds the footage. Elizabeth crosses her arms as Plague narrows her eyes watching what her Father built. Josh focuses as he sees the husk and darkling enter each side of the glass boxes. Elizabeth narrows her eyes seeing the darkling.

"What is that? It's disgusting looking." Elizabeth asks

Josh shakes his head and rubs his eyes.

"That's one of the creatures that attacked me by Darkness.', Elizabeth turns her head at Josh, 'It's bad enough if one of those things are being controlled by Darkness. If this thing is under Cyrus's control…can this get any worse?"

Plague blinks.

"I think it just did."

"Huh?"

Josh looks back up at the screen and sees the husk and darkling being 'combined' together. Calhoun covers her mouth and sees what's happening between the two. A giant flash goes off and the glass doors open up. The husk and darkling walk out, now transformed and mixed together, creating a darkling husk and a husk darkling. The husk has claws like the darkling and now can move faster. The darkling how looks more human and has the virus marked out all around its body. Josh shakes his head and looks around.

"This is a nightmare. This is just a frickin nightmare." Josh says sitting down

Josh sits down and keeps his hands on his face. Elizabeth walks on the right side of the couch and Plague sits down on the right side of the couch, smiling and nodding.

"Well I have to say, Daddy for once impressed me."

Calhoun looks annoyed.

"Are you kidding me?" Calhoun asks

Plague looks over and sees Elizabeth and Calhoun looking at her.

"Do you not see that machine? Anything or anyone who goes in that will get a mix of the other's powers. That's awesome."

"It's horrible." Elizabeth says walking away

Josh takes his hands off his face and sees Elizabeth walking away.

"You okay Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth covers her mouth with her one hand. Plague sees and smirks.

"Little Ice Princess here is just nervous seeing what Cyrus is capable of. I would be to if he locked me up and kept me as an experiment."

Elizabeth takes her hand off her face.

"It has to be destroyed.', Plague and Josh take notice of that, Elizabeth turns around, 'We need to destroy that thing before Cyrus makes anymore of those things."

Plague shakes her head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wha? No way. We go there and steal it from Cyrus. Not only do we piss him off about it, we can use it for ourselves, huh?"

Josh turns his head but doesn't look at Plague. He thinks about the idea Plague just said.

"Huh…"

Elizabeth looks down at Josh not looking at her and she looks back at Plague.

"Plague, you don't understand the situation we have here."

Plague gets more annoyed and pissed. Vanellope sees and taps Josh's shoulder.

"Josh.', Josh looks and Vanellope points, Josh looks and flinches seeing Plague getting mad, 'Do something please?"

"I don't understand? I don't understand what you little ice bitch? That you feel like nothing more than a mistake gone horrible wrong? Huh?', Elizabeth gets really upset biting her lip, she takes a step forward clenching her fists, 'You're nothing more than a disaster waiting to happen and the only reason you're here is because Josh feels sorry for you."

Josh flinches to hearing what Plague is saying. He slowly turns and sees the look on Elizabeth's face.

"Oh boy…" Josh whispers

Elizabeth points at Plague with an ice fist. Calhoun looks and pulls Vanellope out of the cross hair.

"You know what Plague you can say and push me all you want but one of these days you're going to say the wrong thing and you're going to regret it!"

"Oh yeah?" Plague asks walking ahead

Plague and Elizabeth walk towards each other.

"Yeah!"

Josh stands up right before they collide with each other. He pushes the two back.

"Hey, hey! Destroying it or even using it, it doesn't matter if we don't even get to the damn thing!', Josh looks at both women and they calm down, just a bit, they back up, 'Now think about this. Cyrus isn't just going to let us walk into that building and reach that machine. It's going to be packed with whatever Cyrus is cooking up."

"And every second we waste, more of those things are showing up." Elizabeth explains

Plague shrugs.

"More fun for me."

"You would say that wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I would."

Josh sighs hard to break up the fighting.

"Hey!', Josh looks at both women again, 'In case you hadn't notice, that building Cyrus is using is huge. It's going to take a lot more of us to clear that place out and reach that machine. Now…does anyone here have any ideas where we can 'borrow' an army?"

Suddenly Ralph snores loudly and everyone looks. Josh sighs and throws his head up.

"Ralph. RALPH!', Josh points his hand at Ralph and makes it out to a gun, he fires a small bolt and it hits Ralph, Ralph jumps wondering what just happened, Josh lowers his hand and looks serious, 'Wake your sleepy ass up! Were in kind of a dilemma here!"

Ralph is half asleep.

"What's wrong now?" Ralph asks yawning

"Everything. All hands on deck. Get Felix here."

Ralph sighs and gets up.

"Okay."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"If he doesn't wreck anything he just falls asleep. Wonderful…"

Elizabeth thinks for a moment and snaps her fingers.

"What if we call the local police?"

Josh blinks and everyone, including Josh looks at Elizabeth.

"You serious?" Josh asks with a lost look on his face

"They have fire power we could use to fight them."

Plague shakes her head.

"Why the hell would they help us?"

Josh nods.

"Plague's right Elizabeth. I know how that sounds but she's right. We're not, and I'm not exactly on their A-List."

"More like there Hit-List." Plague states

"Josh, what about that box thing you made?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"My men from _Hero's Duty_. They could help out."

Josh shakes his head.

"That's not enough. And 'local' police aren't enough as well Elizabeth. We need a S.W.A.T. team or something. They all have the big guns."

"Josh, have you ever heard of Hearts and Minds?"

Josh blinks.

"No."

Elizabeth shuts her eyes and sees Josh doesn't know that it's a book.

"It's a book."

"History lesson time?" Plague asks sitting down

Elizabeth looks at Plague hard and Josh looks back.

"Plague. Shut, the, HELL up."

Plague sighs slowly and Josh looks back at Elizabeth.

"What are you talking about Elizabeth?" Calhoun asks

"The book in short, we do something for them, they'll…"

"Do something for us?" Josh asks

Elizabeth nods.

"Yes."

"Elizabeth. That's a long shot."

"How about I give them a good ass kicking. That should get them to help us."

"Unlikely Plague." Josh states

"Didn't you say law enforcement is having trouble fighting the husks?', Elizabeth asks, Josh turns around, 'They can't defeat the husks like we can."

Josh nods to that idea.

"We help them get rid of a few husks."

"Then they have to owe us." Vanellope says

Josh and Elizabeth look down. Josh smiles and pats Vanellope's head.

"Couldn't have said it better."

Vanellope smiles. Josh looks at E.D.I.

"E.D.I., can you find anything on the police band of any teams out there are fighting the husks?"

"Scanning."

E.D.I. scans on the broad band. Everyone waits. Plague shakes her head and looks at Josh.

"You can't be serious."

Josh looks annoyed and turns at Plague.

"It's our only move."

Plague scuffs and E.D.I. finds something.

"I've found something."

"Put it up E.D.I."

E.D.I. puts up the radio chatter of the S.W.A.T. under fire. There's gunfire, yelling and a lot of static.

"_We need backup! We are surrounded! More and more of them just keep coming! We can't stop them! We need help!" _S.W.A.T. Team Commander yells

Josh nods.

"Those are our guys."

"Were helping the people trying to arrest you?" Plague asks

Josh sighs.

"Yes for the time being. Let's go."

"Who's going?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns around and looks at Calhoun.

"Me, Plague and Calhoun. I don't want you four anywhere near those things or the S.W.A.T. team when we come into contact. We can handle a few husks."

"And what about those things Cyrus is making?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks down. He just shrugs.

"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go. Let's go ladies."

Ralph and Felix finally enter the Apartment. Felix sees Josh, Plague and Elizabeth leaving.

"Hey yall. Where are you all going?"

"Out Felix." Josh answers

Calhoun crosser her arms.

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?"

The three board the elevator. Josh turns around and throws down the elevator door.

"Keep an eye on that building with E.D.I. Call me if anything changes."

Calhoun nods. Josh hits the switch and the three go down.

Garage…

The three walk ahead and Josh goes to the car.

"Get in.'

"You two go on ahead, I'll meet you there." Plague explains

Josh and Elizabeth stand at both doors of the Camaro. They look at each other and back at Plague.

"Where you going?" Josh asks shutting the door

Plague waves Josh off.

"I'm in no mood for a drive. My way is quicker."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

"That's fine by me."

Josh turns his head at Elizabeth and she sees the look Josh is giving her. Plague bites her lip.

"And I have another reason why I'm not going with you two but I'm not going to say it."

Josh sighs.

"Fine.', points hard at Plague, 'You, better, be, THERE."

Plague walks away.

"Yeah, yeah…"

Plague swooshes and disappears. Josh shakes his head and looks back at the car.

"Well, no reason to take this.', Elizabeth looks at Josh, 'Let's take the bike."

Josh walks over to his motorcycle. Elizabeth narrows her eyes and brushes some of her hair back behind her ear.

"Motorcycle?"

Josh rips off the cover of his bike and hops on.

"Well, get on."

Elizabeth gulps.

"'Get, on'?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah. Come on."

Elizabeth walks up to the bike slowly and gets on. Josh turns it on and its engine roars out through the Garage. Elizabeth jumps and gets really nervous.

"You do know how to drive this right?"

Josh laughs.

"Ha! Of course. What makes you ask that?"

"Um, no, no reason."

Josh nods.

"Right. Tie your bowtie in your ponytail tight. We got to make it to that location in ten minutes."

"You're going to drive the speed limit right?"

Josh shrugs.

"Kind of."

Elizabeth gulps.

"Please tell me you're joking."

Josh shakes his head.

"Nope! Hold on!"

Josh throttles back and the front tire jumps. Elizabeth gasps and throws her arms around Josh as they speed out of the Garage and towards their destination.

S.W.A.T. Team Location…

The S.W.A.T. Team members get surrounded by the oncoming husks. They open fire on them, they get hailed with neuromas bullets but they keep on coming. Snipers on top of the S.W.A.T. truck open fire at the heads of the husks but doesn't do much damage to them as they just ignore the shot and keep on pressing. The S.W.A.T. Team Commander reloads his pistol and fires at the two husks approaching him.

"God Damn it! Die already!"

"Sir were running out of bullets!" S.W.A.T. Member yells

"Keep firing!"

The fifteen S.W.A.T. Team Members keep opening fire with their automatic weapons. The husks keep getting closer and surround the S.W.A.T. Team. The Commander sees that they're in trouble and faces the end…

"Oh shit…"

Just as a husk is about to attack the Commander, a gunshot is heard and the husk that was right in front of the Commander drops dead.

"Huh?" S.W.A.T. Commander asks

The other Team Members look around wondering how that one husk just died. A loud motorcycle engine is heard and the Commander turns around.

"The hell?"

Suddenly Josh and Elizabeth ride by and Josh fires at the husks advancing on the S.W.A.T. Team.

"GET DOWN!" Josh orders

As Josh and Elizabeth ride by, Elizabeth hails the husks with her ice and they freeze up to death. Josh drifts on his bike and spins around. More husks are right behind them and Josh kicks up the bike and Elizabeth gets knocked off.

"Take care of the rear?"

"Got it!"

Josh speeds ahead as Elizabeth takes care of the ones in front of her. As Josh speeds ahead, he pulls out his staff and takes down each frozen husk that Elizabeth got early. Josh hits the brakes and flies off his bike landing on a husk right before a S.W.A.T. Member. He digs his staff into the husk and it falls apart into a million pieces. Josh goes on about and takes down the rest of the husks around the S.W.A.T. Team and as they watch. The S.W.A.T. Commander just watches and slowly recognizes Josh.

"Josh Litwak…"

As Josh spins around, a husk is standing right before him. Josh goes to attack and suddenly Plague swooshes in and cuts the husk in half. He sees Plague and Plague just smirks.

"Did I miss much?"

"Thought you weren't going to show."

"I wouldn't miss a fight for the world."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Behind you."

Plague spins around and cuts the head off the husk coming at her. Josh grabs his disc blade and throws it at the frozen husks Elizabeth is taking care of. IT flies around and cuts right through them like butter. The disc blade flies right back at Josh and he catches it. The S.W.A.T. Team and its Commander see the husks all gone by these three people, especially Josh. The Commander looks back at his men and nods. Plague and Elizabeth walk up to Josh.

"Well that was fun." Plague says with a smile

"What took you so long?" Elizabeth asks

Plague sighs and shakes her head.

"Not now little princess."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"Stop calling me 'princess'."

"Stop it, right now." Josh orders

Suddenly, the sound of guns cocking are heard and Josh lifts his head up with a confused look on his face.

"What's that sound?" Josh asks turning around

As Josh turns around, Plague and Elizabeth look behind Josh and look surprised. Josh turns around and sees the S.W.A.T. Team aiming all their guns at them. Josh shakes his head and the Commander points his pistol at Josh.

"Your under arrest Josh Litwak."

"Unbelievable…"

Plague gets annoyed.

"I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it!"

"Shut up Plague." Elizabeth says

"Don't tell me to shut up." Plague says looking hard at Elizabeth

"Well I just did."

Josh looks back.

"Knock it off.', the two do and Josh looks back at the S.W.A.T., 'I just saved your butts and now you're going to arrest me?"

"We didn't ask for your help."

"Well it seems like you needed it." Plague says

"Put your hands up now Josh Litwak."

Josh sighs hard. Suddenly, growling is heard and a S.W.A.T. Member turns around. A small herd of husks walk their way towards everyone.

"Um, Sir, we got more company!"

The Commander turns around and sees the husks advancing towards them.

"Oh great…"

Josh and the two girls look and see more husks. Plague holds her sword out.

"More fun time."

The Commander looks back at Josh.

"Do not move. I'm telling you right now.'

"Or what?"

The Commander cocks his pistol.

"Use your imagination."

Josh shakes his head and Elizabeth leans in closer to him.

"Josh, what should we do?"

Josh narrows his eyes and looks at the husks coming. He blinks and smirks.

"We just took care of these husks for you right here, you did see that right?"

The Commander blinks and several S.W.A.T. Members stand in a line and aim at the husks approaching.

"Sir! Open fire?"

The Commander looks back still pointing his gun at Josh.

"Hold on!', looks back at Josh, 'We can take care of these things."

"Obviously not if you couldn't kill them." Plague states

The Commander points his gun at Plague.

"One more word of you and you'll be alongside the Terrorist here."

Plague narrows her eyes hard at the Commander and he sees the fire emitting off of her.

"Say that again, I dare you."

The Commander gulps. Josh steps forward and he sees, the Commander throws his gun at Josh.

"Don't move!"

"You two options Commander', The Commander narrows his eyes, 'Option One: you let us take care of these husks for you and you'll get better sleep at night knowing these things are off the street. Option two: try to arrest me and deal with these husks on your own because we both know were the only ones who can take care of them."

The Commander struggles. A S.W.A.T. Member looks back at the very close husks getting towards them.

"Sir!?"

The Commander looks down hard and grunts. He lowers his gun and the three see.

"Go! Do it!"

Josh nods.

"Let's go!" Josh orders

The three run ahead and the Commander watches.

"I hope I don't regret this." The Commander says walking towards the spot

Josh, Plague and Elizabeth run past the S.W.A.T. Members and they watch the three fight the husks. They take care of the husks in each of their own way. Josh uses his weapons one at a time taking down the husks. Elizabeth freezes the husk with her ice abilities and opens rips to get rid of them for good. She even opens some rips of alternate devices that either squash, run over and even lift up the husks. Plague uses her sword and slices and dices the husks coming at her. She spins around in circles and uses her fire abilities to roast them alive. The S.W.A.T. members and the Commander watch in shock seeing these three take down the husks without no trouble at all.

"This is unbelievable…"

The last husk gets taken down by Josh. Josh uses his staff and impales it into the ground. The husk dies and Josh spins around his staff.

"Ahhh…that was fun…"

Plague smiles.

"See?"

Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

"You two are so impossible sometimes."

Josh chuckles and looks at the Commander. He walks towards them and the S.W.A.T. Members cock and point their guns at Josh. Josh stops walking and crosses his arms.

"Really?"

Plague and Elizabeth see and get ready just in case. The Commander steps ahead, this time not pointing his gun at Josh. He stares at Josh and sees him not attacking or even harming anyone except for the husks he fought. The Commander sighs slowly and waves his hand.

"Guns down. Guns down…"

Josh smiles and the S.W.A.T. Members lower their weapons. He walks closer to the Commander and crosses his arms.

"You're welcome."

"Excuse me if I don't say thank you."

"You just did so I'll take it."

The Commander sighs.

"What do you want Terrorist?"

Josh chuckles and smiles.

"It's Josh. Or if you prefer White Lightning."

"No thanks."

Josh sighs.

"Okay, let's just cut to the chase.', The Commander crosses his arms, 'The man responsible for these things is close by."

"I can see him just fine."

Josh blinks and remains calm.

"These aren't mine. Don't believe everything you're told Commander."

"I'm told if I see Josh Litwak, I have all rights to arrest and bring him in no matter what the cost."

Josh nods.

"Well I can't stop you from disobeying your orders now can I?', The Commander nods, 'But let me tell you something right now Commander…there are more of these things nearby. Nearby in a building with the same man who created them."

The Commander narrows his eyes.

"How many more."

"Five times as many as you saw here.', The Commander and the S.W.A.T. Members open their eyes even more, 'But if you want to go and take care of them by yourself, go right ahead, will just be on our way." Josh says walking away

The Commander gulps and shakes his head.

"Wai-Wait!', Josh and the girls stop and look back, 'Are you serious?"

Josh looks at the two and sees that he's hooked on. He smiles but hides it. Josh looks back at the Commander.

"Yeah I am. And you saw what we can do. Will help you take out those husks as long as you help us take the building."

The Commander narrows his eyes and crosses his arms.

"Oh really?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah. That's how it's going to work. You help me, will help you."

The Commander bites his lip and thinks about the idea. Josh looks back at the two and shrugs wondering if the Commander will take the deal. The Commander blinks and nods.

"If my Captain finds out that I'm working with you on this, I can kiss my career goodbye."

"No one will know. Cyrus has something I want to see and I need the extra firepower to take the building."

"Cyrus?"

"That's the man who the husks belong to."

"Is that what you call them?"

"You got a better name?"

The Commander sighs.

"Where's this building you're talking about?"

Josh places his hands on Plague's and Elizabeth's shoulder.

"These two will show you.', Elizabeth and Plague turn their heads back at Josh, 'I have to 'upload' a few more characters to come along on this little journey. See yall later." Josh says walking away

As Josh walks away, Plague stands her ground and Elizabeth catches up to Josh as he walks to his bike.

"Where you going Josh?"

"Back to the Apartment. I need my Box."

"Why?"

"It's going to be a big fight at that building Cyrus is holding himself up in. I know…', shrugs, 'two characters that might be willing to help."

"Who?"

Josh hops on his bike and smiles.

"Master Chief and Nathan Drake."

Elizabeth narrows her eyes wondering who Josh is talking about. Josh turns on his bike and looks ahead.

"See you at the building."

Josh zings off and heads back home.

End of Chapter 25…

Preview of Chapter 26…

With the S.W.A.T. Team now going to help Josh take over the building Cyrus is in. The main mission is to get that machine and destroy it. But Josh is having second thoughts about actually using it instead. But when the time comes down to it, Josh realizes that it can be only used once. And with Plague and Elizabeth on his side, which one is he going to choose? Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 26 – Third Choice Part 2 (Finale)

(Please Review for each chapter please)


	26. Chapter 26 - Third Choice Part 2 (Finale

Chapter 26 – Third Choice Part 2 (Finale)

Josh's Apartment…

Everyone watches the TV keeping close eye on the building Cyrus is in. Josh flies up and lands on the floor. He walks to his game shelf and finds the two games he needs.

"Anything new?"

Everyone turns around and sees Josh is back.

"Nothing. It's quiet." Calhoun answers

Josh finds _Halo._

"At least for now.', looks around for _Uncharted_, 'Where is it? Where is it?', finds it finally and grabs it, 'Here we go."

Everyone watches as Josh walks to the other side of the room and grabs his Box.

"What's the plan Josh?" Felix asks

Josh puts the _Halo _game in the box and uploads Master Chief to the Box.

"Plague, Elizabeth and I, plus with the S.W.A.T. Team we managed to convince to help us…we're all going to take the building by force."

Calhoun is actually surprised.

"You got them to actually help you?"

Josh shrugs.

"In a way."

Josh takes out the _Halo _game and puts _Uncharted _in. He uploads Nathan Drake to the Box alongside Master Chief. Josh puts the game cases away and puts the Box in his coat pocket.

"All right. Everyone stay here and keep me informed."

"Got it." Ralph says

"Josh?', Vanellope asks as Josh walks away and turns around, 'Can I come?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Vanellope, it's safer here."

"I can drive quickly."

"In a building?', Vanellope looks disappointed, Josh sees and sighs, 'Look you have to trust me on this. Cyrus created something that's far worse than a husk. Just…stay here with everyone. And if I need HELP, everyone jump in the truck and get to the building as soon as possible. Vnaellope here is the only one to drive."

Vanellope nods, still disappointed. Josh sees and jumps down the elevator shaft. The four stay in Josh's Apartment wondering if there even as useful as they were before.

Out on the Streets…

A Block Away from Cyrus's Building…

Josh parks his bike and sees the S.W.A.T. truck up ahead. Footsteps are heard and Elizabeth turns around sees Josh walking towards them.

"Josh."

Josh looks to the side and sees the S.W.A.T. Members getting ready for battle. He sighs slowly and stops.

"So what's the plan?"

Elizabeth walks to Josh with the Commander in tow and for some reason, the Commander is looking at Elizabeth funny from behind.

"The Commander has set up his men on the buildings across the street', looks back and sees the Commander staring, 'He's, hey, hey!', snaps thumbs, 'My face is up here. You were about to arrest me and now you can't keep your eyes off me."

Josh sighs hard.

"Continue please?"

The Commander looks at Josh.

"You'll be leading my men inside. They'll watch your backs until you clear out all the rooms of those…husk things. My snipers have also spotted some kind of machine on the rooftop." Commander explains

"That 'machine' is the key to this whole reason why we're going in. Tell them to watch where there shooting. I want to at least check it out before we…"

"Destroy it. Right?" Elizabeth asks

"Fine Josh. As long as you kill those things, my men will back you up anyway they can."

Josh nods.

"Fine."

"Josh, we are destroying that thing right?"

Josh shrugs.

"Well…"

Plague swooshes in.

"How about we use it instead? Hate to waste such a chance like this. We can swap powers, am I the only one thinking that?"

Elizabeth rolls her eyes.

"You always come up with the worst ideas."

"It's the best idea, so can it."

"No it's not."

Josh claps his hands.

"All right, all right! Will figure it out the second we get our hands on it. How are we going in? I could just fly up, risk a chance of running into those 'things'…"

"You can fly?" Commander asks

Josh nods.

"Yep."

"So what then? You're going to leave us alone with each other?" Plague asks

Elizabeth looks funny at Plague and she does the same. Josh sees.

"Oh what's the matter ladies don't you two want to work with each other side by side?"

Elizabeth bobs her head.

"Great idea Josh. Who would you rather see us fight? The husks or each other?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No comment."

"Do I get a vote?', Commander asks, Josh looks at the Commander funny, 'If I get a vote, it's been a while since I've seen a good catfight.', Josh flinches and slowly smiles, Plague and Elizabeth slowly turn around and stare at the Commander, 'Especially between two super freaks.', looks at Elizabeth, 'What exactly can you do little lady?"

The Commander reaches out to Elizabeth and she backs up.

"Whoa! Don't even think about touching me. I'll freeze your hand off." Elizabeth says walking away

Josh rubs his face hearing what the Commander is saying. The Commander shakes his head.

"That's a new one…', looks at Plague, 'How about you? What can you do?"

The Commander puts his arm around Plague and she swooshes.

"No touchy."

The Commander flinches seeing Plague gone. He looks around and shakes his head.

"This is so strange."

Josh moves ahead and pulls out his staff and disc blade. He looks back and sees the S.W.A.T. Members right behind him. Josh twirls around his staff and proceeds to the building.

"Let's go!"

Josh kicks down the doors of the building and leads the S.W.A.T. Members in.

Top Floor of Building…

Below the Rooftop, Cyrus walks around a desk and stares at monitor of the ground floor. He sees Josh walking in with a S.W.A.T. team right behind him.

"What do we have here?', looks closer, 'Josh…did you get a S.W.A.T. team to help you now? That's really unfortunate."

Cyrus snaps his thumb and on the ground floor where Josh and the S.W.A.T. Members are, husks start walking and going towards where they are at. Cyrus smiles and backs up.

"I'll leave my new puppets for the end."

Cyrus turns around and walks away.

Ground Floor of Building…

Josh guides the S.W.A.T. Members into the building. He looks around carefully and stops.

"Hold up."

The S.W.A.T. Members hold up and Josh looks around. Josh looks ahead and suddenly behind the walls and doorframes, husks enter the room and make their way towards Josh and the S.W.A.T. Members.

"And here we go." Josh says twirling around his staff

The S.W.A.T. Members hold back and fire at the husks to keep them at bay. Josh attacks the husks as more and more keep coming. He fires electricity and bolts all over the place and the S.W.A.T. Members notice what Josh is doing. Josh spins around his disc blade and looks at the S.W.A.T. Members.

"Get down!"

The S.W.A.T. Members get down and Josh throws the disc blade in a circle around the Members killing the husks around them. Josh catches his disc blade and turns around. He points his staff at a husk and fires a powerful bolt at him. All the husks in the room are dead, the S.W.A.T. Members slowly stand up and see what Josh alone just did. Josh looks back and waves his staff at them.

"Let's move."

Josh moves ahead with the S.W.A.T. Members right behind him.

Back on the Top Floor…

Cyrus walks down the hallway ready to move up to the Rooftop. As Cyrus walks down the hallway, he looks up ahead and sees a burning hole in the ground. Cyrus narrows his eyes and tilts his head. He closes his eyes and begins to smile.

"Plague? Honey…come out come out where every you are."

Behind Cyrus, Plague appears pointing her sword at Cyrus's head. Cyrus slowly turns his head and sees his daughter.

"There you are."

"Cyrus."

"Now, now Plague. It's 'Daddy'."

Plague narrows her eyes hard.

"The hell it is!"

Plague slashes her sword and Cyrus jumps away. Cyrus stands a few feet away from his daughter as Plague just keeps her sword pointed at Cyrus.

"It amazes me that you made it out Plague."

"You think I would have just sat around and not come?"

"You could do whatever you want. But I'm telling you right now, you're not stopping me."

"Maybe…but maybe Josh will."

"Josh? Your actually helping him making him think he can stop me with you along his side. Please…"

"He will stop you."

Cyrus shrugs.

"Only one way to find out."

Plague swooshes ahead but Cyrus catches her and holds her at her throat. Plague tries to swoosh away but Cyrus holds her shaking his head.

"Don't you know better yet sweety?"

Plague tries to cut Cyrus with her sword but Cyrus grabs it and throws it to the side.

"It's time now to see who's virus is better."

Plague narrows her eyes as Cyrus tries to infect his daughter. But Plague fights back with her virus instead.

On the Floors Below…

Josh guides the S.W.A.T. Members down a narrow hallway. He lights the way with his staff and looks back.

"Stay close and stick together."

The S.W.A.T. Members stick close, pointing their guns all around making sure no husk comes sneaking by. Josh looks down the hallway and starts to feel chilly. He shrugs and rubs his arms.

"Whoa…it's kind of cold here."

Josh looks ahead and hears someone coming. He throws his hand up.

"Stop!"

The S.W.A.T. Members point their guns and Josh walks slowly. The figure starts walking closer and closer to the edge and Josh grabs his staff. The figure walks out and Josh swings.

"GOT YA!"

"HEY!" Elizabeth yells

"WHOA!"

Josh spins around and falls against the wall. He sees that it was Elizabeth the whole time.

"Elizabeth?', looks at S.W.A.T. Members, 'Hold on! Don't fire."

"This floor is clear."

"Thanks for letting me know.', Josh looks back at the S.W.A.T. Members, 'Go back down and check to make sure no more husks are on the floors. Go, now!"

The S.W.A.T. Members turn around and go back down to several floors. Josh and Elizabeth look at each other.

"Where's Plague?" Josh asks

"I haven't seen her. She's somewhere."

Josh sighs hard.

"Damn it…', looks around, 'All right, let's go to the Rooftop and get to that machine."

"Okay."

Josh and Elizabeth move ahead.

"You haven't seen those things have you?" Josh asks

"No."

Josh shakes his head.

"Something doesn't feel right."

"You say that now?"

Josh shrugs.

"Just trying to break up the tension."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

Back on the Floor with Plague and Cyrus…

Cyrus tries to infect more of his virus into Plague. But her virus stops it from entering. Cyrus sees.

"Don't fight it Plague. You can't."

"Screw you."

"Don't fight it."

Cyrus holds Plague's throat even tighter and she feels it. Plague starts to pass out but then, she kicks Cyrus in the chest and Cyrus lets go.

"Ow!"

Plague falls down and hits her sword. She grabs it and spins it at Cyrus as he jumps back and gets a large cut against his chest.

"Ow! You little bitch!"

Plague swooshes away and uses that tactic to hit Cyrus every bit on him. Cyrus starts to get annoyed and runs away. Plague goes after him.

Rooftop…

Josh and Elizabeth run out on the Rooftop and they look around. They see the machine but no one is around.

"Is that it?" Elizabeth asks

Josh looks at the machine and puts his staff and disc blade away.

"That's it."

"Let's do what we came here to do."

Elizabeth walks to the machine ready to hit it. As Elizabeth walks to the control panel of the machine, Josh looks around wondering why no one is around. Josh looks up and down, and then all of a sudden a darkling mixed with a husk jumps down and falls at Elizabeth. Josh looks and sees it.

"Elizabeth look out!"

Elizabeth looks up and sees the darkling falling down at her. Josh quickly grabs his staff and fires a powerful bolt at it. The darkling goes flying past the machine and Elizabeth looks back. Suddenly the husk mixed with a darkling stands behind Josh and raises its hand which now has giant claws. Elizabeth sees and points.

"Josh behind you!"

Josh quickly turns but the husk scratches his back really hard and Josh falls forward.

"OW!"

Josh lands on the ground rubbing his back. Elizabeth quickly runs to him and picks him up.

"Josh? Josh!"

Josh is somewhat dazed by that husk's attack. Elizabeth looks and sees the husk approaching them. She shoots ice at the husk but when the ice hits the husk it just melts. Elizabeth looks back and sees the darkling walking towards her. There slowly being approached by the new husk and darkling. Elizabeth gets nervous wondering what to do.

"They're coming Josh, there coming!"

"My…my box…', Elizabeth looks down and sees Josh reaching for his Box inside his coat, Josh hands it to Elizabeth, 'Take it…get…Nate and Chief out here."

"Wha? Who?"

"Just push them on the screen…" Josh says weakly

Elizabeth takes the Box and looks at it. She looks back at the two creatures getting closer and pushes the two characters on the screen.

"AHHH!"

Elizabeth hits the switch and suddenly a bright light shoots off. She covers her eyes and looks back. Nathan Drake and Master Chief, from their games are now standing about looking around.

"Now where am I?" Nathan asks

"This doesn't look like Earth I know." Master Chief says

Elizabeth narrows her eyes and Josh looks up.

"Uhh guys?', Nathan and Master Chief look down, Josh points, 'Do you mind taking care of these things?"

Master Chief looks ahead and sees the darkling.

"I'll take care of this thing."

"Hey! What about me?" Nathan asks

Josh points and Nathan turns around. Nathan sees the husk.

"Hell-ooo! Why do I always bring myself to this crap?" Nathan asks grabbing his AK-47 on his back

Master Chief open fires at the darkling and the darkling jumps around. Nathan runs around and shoots at the husk running after him swinging its claws.

"Hey! Watch it! Cut your nails or something!" Nathan yells

Josh and Elizabeth watch as Master Chief and Nathan Drake take care of the darkling and husk. Master Chief shoots the darkling to death, steps on it and slashes it down to death. Nathan Drake attacks the husk, punching it and getting it closer to the edge. He kicks it one more time and the husk falls off the edge and falls straight down to the street below. Nathan laughs and shakes his head.

"No easier than the apelike men in the snowy cold mountains. That's for sure."

Josh sighs in relief and finally feels his body again.

"Help me up Elizabeth."

Elizabeth helps Josh up and Master Chief and Nathan Drake walk back to Josh.

"Is that all?" Nathan asks

Josh nods.

"Yep, that's all Nate."

"Gotcha. See ya."

Josh hits the Box and Nathan disappears. He turns around and looks at Master Chief.

"Mission over?"

Josh shrugs.

"Close. Your done for now."

"Understood." Master Chief says saluting

Josh salutes too hitting the Box. Master Chief disappears and Elizabeth and Josh are now alone.

"Okay…that was interesting." Elizabeth says

"Let's get to this damn thing already."

"Can't wait…"

Josh and Elizabeth walk to the machine. Josh begins to walk on his own and suddenly Plague kicks down the door and Josh and Elizabeth get battle ready. They see it's only Plague.

"Plague! Where the hell have you been?" Josh asks

"Did you see him?" Plague asks walking forward

"Who?" Elizabeth asks

"Cyrus! He was here."

Josh and Elizabeth look around.

"He was here?" Elizabeth asks

"Yeah. I was chasing him and I lost him."

"You lost him?" Elizabeth asks shockingly

"Don't start with me icy I'm in no mood."

Josh sighs.

"Let's just get to this damn thing already…"

The three approach the machine. Josh stares at it and oddly remembers seeing it before.

"It's bigger in person." Josh states

"How the hell does it exactly work?" Plague asks

Elizabeth studies the machine.

"Well, you turn it on. Step inside the box and watch yourself get ripped apart and turned into something far worse."

Plague shrugs.

"Doesn't sound that bad."

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. Josh walks to the control panel and sees the switch to turn it on. He looks at his hand and grabs the switch. The two watch as Josh pulls it and the machine turns on. The glass boxes open and Josh sees. Josh smirks and turns around.

"You know what…let's use it."

Plague smiles.

"Oh hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

Elizabeth shakes her head worried.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I thought we discussed this. I thought we were going to destroy it?"

"You want some of my powers Josh? That's fine, as long as I get some of yours, that'll be hot."

"No!"

Plague and Elizabeth look at each other.

"I want his powers. I'm sick and tired of Cyrus slipping away. He almost killed me."

"That's a real shame."

Plague points at Elizabeth.

"Don't push it."

Josh walks to the two.

"Elizabeth think about it.', Elizabeth looks at Josh, 'If we swap powers we can become stronger. Look at what we did today together."

Elizabeth covers her mouth. Plague nods.

"Stronger is better."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"This-This-This is not happening."

Josh sighs.

"Okay, look Elizabeth. Plague and I will combine powers. Then will destroy it. I promise."

Elizabeth throws her hand down.

"No! Not with her Josh.', Elizabeth looks at the machine, 'If we're going to use it…then combine powers with me."

Plague shakes her head.

"Josh, you pick her and that deal you made with me it's off."

"You think fire and electricity works well together?" Elizabeth asks

"You think ice and electricity work well together?" Plague asks

Josh shakes his head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey!', the two look at Josh, Josh is just lost and confused, 'Are you two serious? Are you two trying to tell me that I have to 'pick' one of you now?"

Plague and Elizabeth look hard at each other and back at Josh.

(Same time)

"Yes!"

Josh flinches and shakes his head. He walks past the two looking down at the ground.

"Unbelievable….women nowadays."

Josh walks a few feet ahead and Plague and Elizabeth watch and wait. He puts his hand under his chin and thinks of what to do.

_Okay…who to choose who to choose…Plague is strong. But she has the virus. If I choose her, then I can control fire. But would her virus help me? It's too hard to tell. What about Elizabeth? If I choose her, then I can control ice? But ice is water so wouldn't it affect me? It's too hard to tell. And not to mention her rip abilities, what if I get those too? This is really hard?_

Josh sighs slowly and looks down. He looks back up and nods.

"Okay then…"

Josh turns around and looks at the two. Plague and Elizabeth wait to hear a response from Josh and he walks forward.

"I thought it over…and I choose…', Josh looks at Plague and she looks like she's going to be picked, but Josh then looks at Elizabeth, 'Elizabeth.', Elizabeth gulps and blinks quickly, Plague looks disgusted and Josh puts his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, 'Let's do this Elizabeth."

"Okay. Let's do this." Elizabeth says nervously

"I'll be in the box next to you."

Josh helps Elizabeth inside the other box and he activates the machine. Plague just watches.

"Seriously?! Are you kidding me!? Fine! See if I care! Be another walking screw up like her! But when you go off! Don't take it the wrong way of watching my own ass!"

Plague swooshes and Josh enters the box. The machine activates and a powerful wind blast hits the two.

"AHHHHHH! Josh!"

Josh gets pushes around in the box and feels his body like its getting ripped to shreds.

"HOLD ON!"

The machine gets louder and the two begin to feel something being pulled out of them. The electricity inside Josh shoots out of him and into the machine. It short circuits and instead of swapping powers, powers from Elizabeth only shoot into Josh and he gets hit hard.

"OW!"

The machine explodes and both doors open. Electricity shoots all around Josh just coming out of him. Josh limps away and rolls on the ground in pain.

"Oh! AHh! God! Ow…', holds stomach, 'Oh my God! That really frickin hurt!', Josh looks across the way and sees Cyrus walking away, he clenches his fist and charges a powerful bolt, 'CYRUS!"

Josh chugs a bolt across the way and it misses Cyrus. Cyrus looks back and shakes his head. Josh falls down and passes out on the ground.

Several Hours Later…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's Room…

Josh slowly begins to wake up and sees his Bedroom sideways.

"Uhhhh…"

Vanellope turns and sees Josh slowly waking up.

"Guys. Guys! Josh is waking up!"

Josh rolls over and covers his head. Calhoun, Felix and Ralph, Ralph stays at the door because he can't fit through. Josh blinks and looks up.

"Where am I?"

"Josh, your back home." Calhoun explains

Josh looks around and sees his Room.

"How did I get back here?"

"You didn't pick up your phone so we all went out looking for you. We found you and Elizabeth passed out on the building's rooftop."

Josh puts his head back down.

"Oh…', Josh then realizes, 'Wait, Elizabeth?!"

Elizabeth walks in.

"I'm right here Josh."

Josh looks and sees Elizabeth is looking okay.

"What…what happened?"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"I don't know."

"The machine?"

"Destroyed. It must have short circuited or something. But it's dead."

Josh nods.

"Okay…', looks back at Elizabeth, 'Do you have my powers?"

Everyone looks at Elizabeth. Elizabeth shakes her head.

"No. Do you have mine?"

Josh looks at his hand. He narrows his eyes and for some reason he feels a bit different.

"Is it…cold in here? Or is just me?"

"Really?" Vanellope asks

Josh shakes his head.

"I'm being serious. I feel…really cold. But I'm not freezing."

Josh gets up and walks out of his room. Everyone watches.

"Josh? Where you going?" Felix asks

"The Factory…"

Everyone follows Josh down to the Factory.

The Factory…

Josh walks into the Factory and starts breathing heavily.

"Phew! I'm tired all of a sudden…and chilly."

"Josh…" Vanellope says

"Hold up, I'm not joking around. I feel like something is building up inside me."

"Should we take cover?" Ralph asks

"No…just…give me a second."

Josh bends over breathing heavily. He looks ahead and suddenly, as he breathes, he can see his breath.

"No way…', looks back, 'Do you guys see that? Look…', Josh demonstrates blowing out cold air and seeing his breath, Elizabeth looks shocked and confused at the same time, 'It's ninety degrees in here and I can see my breath?"

"Not even I can do that." Elizabeth states

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and down at his hands. He looks ahead at the floor in front of him and looks back at his friends.

"Everyone get back. Just in case."

Everyone backs up just a bit. Elizabeth crosses her arms and everyone watches what Josh is about to do. Josh looks ahead and stares down at both of his hands. He closes his eyes and clenches his fists really hard. Josh focuses really hard.

_Not electric…ice. Think about ice or something cold…_

Josh's hands slowly start to emit cold temperatures. Everyone watches and waits for Josh to do something. Josh steps back and charges forward. He throws his hands forward and all of a sudden powerful blocks of sharp ice shoot out of the ground twenty feet long and everyone jumps.

(All at once)

"WHOA!"

Josh looks and sees what he just did.

"Holy crap! Ha, ha!" Josh says looking at his hands

Vanellope jumps up and runs ahead.

"That was awesome!"

Josh looks down at Vanellope and nods.

"Yeah, it was!"

"Do something else."

Josh looks down at his hands and thinks for a moment.

"Hold on."

Josh pulls out his staff and stares at it. He turns around to show it to everyone. Everyone watches and Elizabeth watches oddly for some reason. Josh focuses and suddenly his staff ices up and emits cold temperatures.

"Okay, just like my electric powers…watch this."

Josh floats up and flies around. He leaves his staff sliding on the ground creating slick ice on the floor making it slippery. Josh flies around Calhoun and she carefully tries not to slip on the ice. He looks back seeing Calhoun about to slip.

"Careful Calhoun! It's really slippery!"

"I can see that, whoa!"

Calhoun slips and falls on her butt. Josh laughs and picks up his staff.

"Don't say I didn't try to tell you."

Felix slips by and slides next to Calhoun. He tries to help her up but Felix falls too.

"Oh!"

Felix and Calhoun look at each other and Josh looks back. Calhoun and Felix finally get up and keep their balance from slipping. Josh smirks and puts his right hand behind his back hiding it from everyone. He starts to form up a nice, round perfect snowball. Calhoun looks and points at Josh.

"Don't ever do that again."

Josh nods.

"Okay. Oh by the way Calhoun?"

"What?" Calhoun says throwing out her arms to keep her balance

Josh tosses up the snowball and throws it at Calhoun.

"Think fast!"

Calhoun sees the snowball and gets hit on the chest with it. She loses her balance and falls again.

"Who-Whoa!"

Calhoun slips and knocks into Felix too. Both of them fall and Vanellope covers her mouth and just laughs. Elizabeth just watches and shakes her head at Josh. Calhoun looks at Josh really hard and he gets his feet back on the ground.

"I told you, think fast."

Calhoun shakes her head.

"You're done."

Calhoun tries to run at Josh but she slips again on the ice that's scattered around all over the place. Josh floats up and flies around Ralph.

"Hey Ralph."

"Don't even think about it."

Josh nods with a funny look on his face.

"Of course not. No slipping or no ice ball to the face. Fine by me."

Ralph nods.

"Good."

"But what about a storm?"

Ralph narrows his eyes and looks back.

"Storm?"

Josh points up and Ralph looks up. Suddenly a huge pile of snow comes falling down and covers Ralph's entire body. Josh just laughs as he slides away.

"Oh boy this is sweet! Cold, but very sweet!"

Josh just laughs and Ralph gets out of the snow. Ralph gets out of the snow and grabs a huge chunk of snow and forms it into a ball. He smirks ready to throw it.

"Oh, Josh."

Josh turns around.

"Yeah Ralph?"

Ralph chugs the snowball at Josh and he flies up avoiding it. Josh looks at the huge snowball and back at Ralph.

"That has got to be the biggest snowball I've ever seen before."

Calhoun slips by the snow leftover that covered Ralph. She pounds it together and throws it at Josh.

"Think fast Josh!"

Calhoun throws the snowball and it hits the back of Josh's head.

"Oh!"

Josh feels the back of his head and looks back at Calhoun. He sees her with another snowball. Josh just slowly gets back on the ground and scratches his head. Everyone just waits and Josh just shrugs.

"Snowball fight."

Calhoun and Ralph chug the snowballs at Josh and Josh creates some snow around him and Vanellope.

"Fire, fire, fire, Vanellope!"

Josh and Vanellope work as a team making snowballs and throwing them at Ralph and Calhoun. The four throw tons of snowballs at each other trying to get the other team. Josh looks down and throws both his hands down at the same time. An ice spike shoots out of the ground launching Josh in the air. Everyone looks up and Josh flies around the room.

"Winter is coming early this year! WOO-HOOOO!"

Ralph and Calhoun try to hit Josh flying around the room. Felix and Elizabeth just watch on the sidelines and see how much fun everyone is having.

"It's nice to see everyone like this."

Elizabeth looks down.

"Excuse me?"

Felix looks up.

"It's nice to see everyone like this. It's nice to forget about what's happening with Cyrus and just…I don't know. Have fun. This is probably the first time I've seen everyone…happy like this." Felix explains

Elizabeth blinks and looks back up. She looks up at Josh smiling and laughing for the first time since she's been with him.

Josh's Apartment…

Later that Night…

Bathroom…

Josh turns on the light and stares at himself in the mirror. He takes of his shirt and turns around. Josh stares at his back where the husk scratched him and he kind a sees the marks left by the husk.

"Damn…"

The marks don't really show, but you can see them. Josh sighs through his nose and puts his shirt back on.

Josh's Apartment…

As Josh slowly closes the Bathroom door, he turns off the light and walks to his room. Josh looks back and sees Elizabeth sitting at the counter with her hand on her neck leaning forward. He narrows his eyes and walks towards her. As Josh walks into the room, he sees everyone sound asleep in their usual places. Josh nods and walks up behind Elizabeth quietly without her knowing.

"Elizabeth?', Elizabeth blinks hearing Josh calling her name, she sniffs and turns her head around, 'You okay? It's late."

Elizabeth nods and wipes her eyes.

"I-I-I'm fine. I…I couldn't sleep."

Elizabeth sniffs again and Josh sees that Elizabeth was crying.

"Were you crying?"

Josh walks around Elizabeth and she tries not to look at Josh.

"No."

"Then the 'water' coming out your eyes, that's nothing?"

"Yes."

Josh narrows his eyes and crosses his arms.

"What's wrong? You can tell me if you want."

Elizabeth turns her head back at Josh. She sees him wanting to know what's wrong with her. Elizabeth gulps and leans against the contour.

"As you can see, I can't control my powers very well."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"What are you talking about? Of course you can."

"Really Josh?"

"Yeah."

"Then how come my powers in you seem to be working well better than I do and I've had them longer?"

Josh blinks for a moment and shrugs.

"I don't worry about just thinking about 'controlling' it. I just think about how I can use them to my advantage."

"That's exactly the same."

"No it's not."

"Then how is it different?"

"Controlling your powers and using them to your advantage, are two different things. Controlling your powers for one is something when you feel what's inside you and using it. If you can get it out and actually use it, then you're able to control it.', Josh explains, Elizabeth looks over at Josh, 'Now for using it to your advantage, once you get passes the controlling, well, using it to your advantage pretty much well explains itself."

Elizabeth chuckles and looks down. Josh smiles seeing Elizabeth laughing.

"That makes no sense at all."

Josh shrugs.

"It got you to smile again."

Elizabeth looks back down. Josh tilts his head.

"Why are you crying Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth shrugs.

"I guess I…was jealous that's all."

Josh flinches back.

"Jealous? Of me?', Elizabeth nods, 'Why?"

"Because of what you can do. I can never do any of those things with my powers."

Josh blinks.

"Well, is there one thing I can't do but yet you can do quite perfectly.', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'Your rips."

Elizabeth sighs softly and looks the other way.

"You had to bring that up."

"I'm serious. You can open rips perfectly. If I could do that, I would come to you and ask you how to manage that."

"I still don't have total control over it."

"Then you'll learn. That's the only way to surpass it."

Elizabeth looks back.

"You really think so?"

Josh nods with a smile.

"I know so. It's how I look at things. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Elizabeth nods.

"I understand."

Josh just bobs his head.

"I really didn't know who to choose."

Elizabeth looks back up.

"For the machine? Between me and Plague?"

"Yeah…both of you had your pros and cons and I just…I don't know. I picked you because…', Josh trails off and Elizabeth narrows her eyes tilting her head, Josh smiles and shakes his head, 'It's stupid. You're going to laugh."

"No, I promise I won't. What is it?"

Josh sighs slowly through his nose and looks back at Elizabeth.

"The winter time…was my brother's favorite time of the year.', Elizabeth blinks and gulps, 'Jason loved the snow. We had endless snowball fights and made snowmen all the time."

"He was important to you, wasn't he?"

Josh shrugs.

"He looked up to someone, and that someone was me. Great role model huh?"

"A wonderful role model."

Josh makes a face.

"Not according to my parents."

"Parents can be like that seeing their oldest son act the way he does."

Josh narrows his eyes and crosses his arms.

"And how would you know that?"

"I read a lot of family novels. And how family members work with each other."

"Huh…"

Elizabeth blinks and looks down.

"I don't even have any."

"What?"

"A family."

Josh gulps.

"Oh…sorry."

"Tweety was…my only family when I was little."

Josh nods.

"I get it Elizabeth."

Elizabeth touches her neck and turns back around at the counter. Josh stares at Elizabeth and tires to think up of something to say.

"You know…for the record. I don't…think you're a mistake.', Elizabeth lifts her head up, 'I think…your fine just the way you are.', Elizabeth just blinks and Josh gulps, 'If I could rewrite your backstory I would do it in a heartbeat because no game chara…', shakes head, 'person deserves that kind of history."

Josh looks down and Elizabeth sort of smiles.

"Thank you Josh.', turns around quickly and stands up, 'That really sounds…', Josh lifts his head and Elizabeth flinches, '…great…"

As Elizabeth turned around, she didn't know how far back Josh was or Josh didn't know Elizabeth was going to quickly turn around. The two are really close to each other, close enough to feel each other's breath. Josh and Elizabeth just look into each other's blue eyes. The two blink, breathe seeing how close they are to each other. Josh shakes his head and clears his throat.

"Well…"

Josh backs up and looks left. Elizabeth snaps out of it, backs up and looks right.

"Good night Elizabeth." Josh says walking away

Elizabeth nods.

"Good night Josh."

Elizabeth sits back down on the stool and Josh walks to his Room. As Josh grabs the knob, he looks back at Elizabeth just staring ahead where everyone's sleeping. Josh looks down and enters his room. Elizabeth looks and sees Josh completely gone. She blinks and reaches down behind her clothing and pulls out the blue necklace she got the day she escaped the Tower with Josh.

Even though their first meeting was quite 'shocking', Elizabeth didn't know who Josh was or what he even wanted. But he got her out and throughout the trip home, she began to learn who Josh is and what he's trying to do against Cyrus. But Josh is doing everything he can but he seems to not want to get very close to anyone. Especially with someone like Cyrus breathing down his neck it would seem Cyrus could possible use that person against Josh.

Elizabeth looks at the sparkling blue rock and puts it back behind her clothing. She looks down and shakes her head. Elizabeth can't help but think that maybe Josh is just…scared to get close to someone. But Elizabeth doesn't exactly know. But does she?

End of Chapter 26…

Preview of Chapter 27…

It's time to get organized. It's time to think things clearer and get a better grip on the situation. That's right. Josh, plus everyone are going to pull things together and secure the Factory better for any attempt for an attack. And also there's more problems at hand. The spare rooms everyone needs to sleep in if anyone wants to live there. That's a whole other problem that has to get sorted out. Josh needs to think things clearer or everyone he's fighting for might get a turn of the worse. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 27 – Power and Security

(Please Review for Each Chapter)


	27. Chapter 27 - Power and Security

Hello Readers, I have a few things I want to say before the chapter begins. And for me to begins, I must apologize for my unseen act. Finally seeing how long it's been since I've last uploaded a chapter. It's been about a month. I remember saying I would update weekly, and I didn't like that. But now it's been a month. I can't imagine what any of you can believe from what I say. During the month of August, it was probably the most stress filled month of my life. During that month, I had to have oral surgery done. I was nervous, scared, etc. etc. And anything that I felt like doing, I just never did because it all seemed 'pointless'. But when I had it done, it was a success, but from all the medication I had to take, sleeping around and doing nothing just became a part of me. And before I knew it, a week was already gone by. And I didn't feel like typing. I had the idea running in the back of my mind, but I just didn't feel like it. And before I knew it, more time went by. And to make it even worse, I had to GO back to the oral surgeon and get something else done. That was painful and the medication made another WEEK go by again. When everyone was all over, typing felt no bother to me. I just…didn't feel like it. I wanted to but something 'else' just came up and that was just an excuse. So for what I have done, there's not enough apology's in the world for me to express my words. So sorry Readers. But now I'm back in school, and during those times I'm there, I'm basically sitting down, learning and typing at the same time. So I 'WILL' be typing for this story. I promise. I won't do another MONTH long wait and I will upload as soon as possible. I swear. (Sighs slowly) I really wanted to get that off to tell you guys WHY it took so long. And another discussion that I want to tell you Readers.

Remember when wrote that Josh was gone for two years from Game Central Station? Makes you wonder what happened to the gang while Josh was gone. Well there is. A good story by the way, It's called Wreck-It Ralph 2: The Other Gamer. Good story. Check it out. So enjoy the new chapter FINALLY. I know I said I want more reviews but from what I've done. If there's no review, I'm okay with it. It's the least I deserve. Enjoy.

Chapter 27 – Power and Security

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's Room…

Josh walks across his room and opens his closet. He sighs slowly looking at all the shirts lying around…

"Hmmm…what to wear…"

Josh finds a blue shirt and takes it off the hanger.

"Feeling blue today."

Josh slides the shirt on and walks out into his Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

Josh walks out into the Apartment and sees everyone up.

"Morning guys."

Vanellope turns around on the stool.

"Hey Josh."

Josh pats Vanellope's head.

"And what are we eating?"

Vanellope looks at the bowl of cereal and Josh sees how…sugary it is. Josh gulps just seeing it.

"Just a quick breakfast."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"A 'quick' breakfast? From what I'm seeing it looks like a 'speedy' breakfast."

Vanellope stares down at the bowl.

"It's alright. It tastes great."

Josh shakes his head.

"It may taste great but you can't keep eating sugar all the time Vanellope."

Vanellope shrugs.

"Why not?"

Elizabeth turns around holding a cup of coffee in both her hands.

"Because it's not healthy for you Vanellope."

Vanellope looks funny at Elizabeth as she hands over a cup to Josh.

"Good morning Josh."

Josh nods.

"Elizabeth.', sees cup, 'Oh thanks."

Josh takes the cup and blows on it. He blows on it so much it slowly starts to become solid as a rock. Josh sees and stops blowing.

"Oh right. Frozen powers. I almost forgot…', looks down at Vanellope, 'Elizabeth's right Vanellope. You can't keep just eating sugary things all the time."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't good for you. Here, have some oatmeal instead." Josh says walking around the contour setting down the cup of coffee

Calhoun turns her head and sees Josh making a bowl of oatmeal for Vanellope. Josh puts in the necessary ingredients and slides it in front of Vanellope and takes the other bowl away. Vanellope just stares down at the bowl…disgusted as this strange substance in front of her.

"What…is this?" Vanellope says tilting her head

"It's called 'oatmeal'. Go on have some." Josh says insisting

Vanellope gulps and sees how strange 'oatmeal' looks. She shakes her head.

"I'm good. Thanks Josh."

"Come on now. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This will be better then what you were having. Trust me."

"I would rather have what I was just eating."

"Vanellope, you keep eating like if you were in _Sugar Rush_ not only it's not good for you it will give you a stomach ache."

"What's a stomach ache?"

Josh blinks and he and Elizabeth look at each other. Josh and Elizabeth turn back at Vanellope.

"It's something that you don't want to go through. Trust me.', Vanellope stares back down at the oatmeal, 'Try it."

"I don't like it."

"You haven't even tried it." Elizabeth states out

Vanellope makes a face at Elizabeth. Josh nods.

"Elizabeth's right Vanellope. Just…just try it." Josh says grabbing a spoon

Vanellope stares at the spoon Josh is handing her and slowly takes it. She stares down at the oatmeal and gulps. Vanellope digs her spoon into the bowl and picks some of it up. Josh backs up and grabs his 'ice' coffee and takes a sip of it. Vanellope sighs softly through her nose and puts up closer to her mouth. Calhoun just watches as Vanellope eats the oatmeal. Vanellope chews on it and finally swallows it. Josh takes another sip of his coffee and blinks.

"Well?"

Vanellope gulps again and just sits there.

"It's…different."

Josh smiles.

"At first it will but later when you get used to it it'll taste wonderful."

Vanellope blinks with a lost look on her face.

"Wait, I have to eat more of this?"

Josh looks back.

"That's right."

Vanellope crosses her arms and stares down at the bowl. Calhoun laughs to herself and looks back down at her food she's eating, an apple.

"Got to try new things every day I suppose."

Josh looks over at Calhoun.

"That's right, otherwise what's the point of living if you do the same thing every day over and over again."

Calhoun looks over at Josh as she takes a bite out of the apple. Josh blinks and looks around. He looks over at Ralph trying to peel a banana but it's proving difficult of his giant hands. Josh smiles and looks around but doesn't see Felix.

"Where's Felix?"

Calhoun looks at the hole in the wall.

"He's inside there.', Josh looks over at the wall, 'Fix-It is just doing some fixing."

"I can understand that but I thought he already fixed everything up in there."

Elizabeth walks alongside Josh.

"No, no. He's not fixing. He's 'fixing'."

Josh blinks to Elizabeth's explanation. It takes a moment and Josh finally gets it.

"He's actually fixing the rooms?', Elizabeth nods, Josh just shakes his head from being impressed, 'Wow…Felix is actually doing some real hard work. Where'd he get the tools?"

"Found them." Calhoun answers

Josh narrows his eyes.

"Found them? What do you mean he just 'found them'?"

"They were inside the rooms already. Maybe they were fixing it up before it shut down." Elizabeth explains

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Anything's possible I guess."

Suddenly E.D.I. pops on screen and waves her hand.

"Excuse me Josh?', Josh and everyone turns around, 'We may have a small problem."

Josh looks lost and walks on over towards E.D.I. in the TV.

"What's the matter E.D.I.?"

As E.D.I. starts to speak, she shorts out and reappears and disappears on screen. Josh flinches seeing what's happening to E.D.I.

"E.D.I.?! What's going on?"

E.D.I. tries to maintain composure but keeps feeling the effects of the power in the Apartment going on and off.

"It would seem that a massive energy drain is happening on the main generator of the Apartment."

Elizabeth walks ahead.

"What does that mean?"

"It means someone is using more power than the generator is putting out. If power keeps going out like this with all the things you have plugged in Josh, everything might go out completely."

"Well who's using all the power?" Josh asks looking around and back

Calhoun thinks.

"Felix might be."

Josh looks at Calhoun.

"He had several 'tools' with him." Ralph says

Josh sighs and shakes his head. Suddenly the generator in the closet starts to emit a loud rattling sound and everyone, except Josh looks in the direction of the noise.

"What's that noise?" Elizabeth asks

Josh sighs and rolls his eyes.

"That's my generator freaking out because Felix is using too much power."

"Is that bad?" Vanellope asks

Josh shakes his head and walks to the closet.

"Yes its bad Vanellope. Felix is going to blow the generator. He's going to blow the damn generator.', walks closer to the closet and opens the door, sees the generator freaking out, 'So now I'm plugging the power Felix is stealing.', Josh starts pulling plugs out, 'And when Felix comes here wondering what's happening, I'm going to tell him why." Josh says standing up

Inside the Rooms…

Felix uses a circular saw up against a wall. As the blade goes up it stops and Felix takes off his clear glasses and looks at the tool.

"Oh my, why isn't it working?" Felix asks walking out of the Room

Josh's Apartment…

Josh stands in the center of his Apartment.

_That generator I have is the only thing keeping power going on through my Apartment. And that means ONLY my Apartment only. Now Felix goes nilly willy, I'm just going to grab a power tool and start building the Rooms where going to sleep in. But he doesn't understand, if the generator blows all the power in my Apartment goes out. That means E.D.I. and Game Central Station will go out and will never see them again. I…I just don't want to use more electricity than we have to at the moment._

Felix suddenly hops in the Apartment and Josh looks hard at him.

"Hey Josh. Do you know what happened? I was using this circular saw and all of a sudden it went out."

"Yeah, because I pulled the plug Felix."

Felix narrows his eyes.

"Why would you do that?"

Josh looks really annoyed.

"Because your taking more power out then that machine can make that was only designed to supply power to my Apartment alone."

Felix blinks.

"Ohh…"

"You were using so much power that E.D.I. was shorting out." Josh explains

Felix covers his mouth.

"Oh!', tilts over and looks at E.D.I. on screen, 'I'm so sorry E.D.I."

E.D.I. reappears on screen.

"It is all right Felix."

"And not to mention Game Central Station was experiencing some power outage." Josh explains walking to the surge bar

Calhoun, Ralph, Vanellope and Felix see the surge bar that Josh brought from the Arcade to his home. The four walk slowly to Josh.

"This…is Game Central Station?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks back and backs up so the four can see it from the outside this time.

"That's right."

"Wow…', Ralph says, 'It's so tiny."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Never thought it looked like this huh?"

"Not even closely." Vanellope says

"Check this out guys." Josh says

Josh plugs in the monitor to the surge bar and the four watch. The monitor turns on and the four see the inside of Game Central Station. They see all the characters that survived and are now living in Game Central Station. Felix looks closer.

"Hey look! It's the Nicelanders. They made it." Felix says happily

Calhoun looks closer.

"My men, there here! They made it. I knew they would."

Josh smiles. Vanellope looks closer. She sees the other racers there as well.

"The other racers are there. There alive!"

Josh nods.

"Yes they are."

"What happened to the Arcade?" Calhoun asks

Elizabeth blinks and looks away. Vanellope slowly looks down. Josh gulps and shakes his head.

"It's gone guys.', the three looked shocked, 'What's left of the Arcade…', points at the monitor, 'is sitting right here in front of you."

The three look back at the monitor and Josh sighs slowly.

"This…is all that's left?" Calhoun asks shockingly

"Our home…" Felix says

Josh rubs his face.

"The games are gone but not the characters. Remember that guys.', the three look at Josh, Josh stands up and makes a face, 'But there won't be any characters left alive if Felix keeps sucking up all the power!"

Felix flinches.

"Oh!"

Josh walks away as the three turn around.

"So what can we do to keep the power running?" Calhoun asks

Josh shrugs.

"I don't exactly know."

"Well we have to figure out something. I can't sleep another night on that couch." Calhoun says rubbing her back

Josh narrows his eyes and turns around.

"Is the 'great' Sergeant Calhoun complaining about sleeping on a couch?"

Calhoun sighs and throws her head up.

"I need my well place 'sleep' Josh."

Josh rubs his face.

"Right Calhoun…"

"What if we get more?" Ralph asks

Josh turns around.

"Get more what?"

"More…of those things?" Ralph asks pointing at the generator

Josh narrows his eyes and looks back at Ralph.

"The generator? You want me to get another generator?"

"Yeah, what's the big deal?"

"There expensive Ralph. I was lucky to get that one."

"How much can they possibly be?" Felix asks

Josh shakes his head.

"Thousands of dollars Felix. Do you have thousands of dollars on you?"

Felix looks down.

"Uh, no?"

Josh nods.

"Exactly."

"What will happen if we use too much power Josh?" Felix asks

Josh turns back around.

"The generator will blow!"

"Then I'll fix it."

"You'll fix it?"

"Yes. That's what I'm good at."

"You going to fix the generator every time?"

Felix doesn't say anything.

"Besides, the second the generator blows, E.D.I. and everyone in Game Central Station will be erased. So right now…we need to think of another way to get power."

"Ummm…" Felix says

Josh looks back down at Felix.

"Yes Felix?" Josh asks

"Well, maybe…you can supply the power."

The room stays quiet. Everyone looks at Josh as Felix pointed out the clear obvious. Josh just stands there and shakes his head.

"Felix…do I look like an outlet?"

"Um, no."

Josh nods.

"That's right. I don't have time to be an electrical outlet."

"Yet your whole body is one." Calhoun comments

Josh points.

"Very funny Calhoun.', Josh sighs slowly and rubs his face, 'What I wouldn't give my left you know what for…for…solar panels. They would be perfect for our current situation." Josh says walking to the couch sitting down

Elizabeth then looks like she understands the comment Josh made. Vanellope walks around the couch and sits down.

"What's 'solar panels'?"

Josh looks up at the screen.

"E.D.I., solar panels please?"

E.D.I. steps to the side and shows a demonstration of what solar panels are.

"Solar panels are alternative energy source that gather the suns light and turns it into electrical energy." E.D.I. explains

"Then let's get those." Ralph says

Josh rubs his face.

"Solar panels Ralph are expensive too."

Ralph rolls his eyes.

"Is everything in this world expensive?"

Josh gets up.

"This is the way the world works Ralph. Better get used to it."

Ralph shakes his head and rubs it. Calhoun throws up her arms.

"Now what are we going to do?"

Josh sighs and walks around Elizabeth.

"If only the ones on the Rooftop were working…" Josh says leaning against the contour

Elizabeth turns around.

"What?"

Everyone takes notice. Josh rubs his face.

"This old Factory has solar panels on the Rooftop."

"There already here?" Calhoun asks

Josh looks at Calhoun.

"Yeah."

"Show us." Felix says

Josh sighs slowly and waves his hand walking to the elevator.

"Follow me."

Everyone looks at each other and they all follow Josh up to the Factory's Rooftop.

Factory Rooftop…

Josh flies up and lands softly on the Rooftop of the Factory. Everyone climbs the ladder as they follow Josh around the array of solar panels. But as everyone looks at them, there broken, old and trashed.

"These are 'solar panels'?" Vanellope asks

Josh nods.

"Yep."

"Pieces of crap from what I see." Calhoun says

Josh looks down at a set and picks it up. Everyone looks and suddenly the solar panel literally breaks in half. Josh just blinks and drops the rest of it.

"We're screwed."

"Come on Josh." Elizabeth says

Josh shakes his head.

"Well what do you want me to say Elizabeth? We can't put power out through the whole Factory without these messed up solar panels. When night comes Darkness can just walk right in without no trouble at all."

"Well there's gotta be something we can do with these solar panels." Elizabeth

"Elizabeth..', picks up half broken solar panels, 'these solar panels are garbage! We can't afford to fix them. We can't afford to buy new ones. Unless one of us here can wave around a magic hammer then he can…', Josh just pauses as everyone just looks at him, Josh shuts his eyes drops the solar panel again, he coughs and rubs his nose, 'Excuse me while I go bash my head in with my staff. Felix?"

"Yes?"

Josh jumps over the broken solar panels.

"Please fix these solar panels."

Felix looks at the broken solar panels and spins out his golden hammer. Felix goes to fix each solar panel and they just appear up as if they were brand new.

Josh's Apartment…

After lugging and carrying all the solar panels on the roof to Josh's Apartment. Josh examines each solar panel and sees that these are the most expensive solar panels on the market. He whistles to this discover.

"Wow. All of these can actually work now." Josh explains

"How so?" Vanellope asks

Josh looks down at Vanellope.

"If we can get these working Vanellope, then we can use the energy to turn on sections of the Factory and light up different hallways."

"Josh?" E.D.I. calls out for

Josh turns around.

"Yeah E.D.I.?"

"If you care to listen to my idea, I have one for the solar panels."

"I'm willing to listen to anything E.D.I." Josh says walking over to the couch

Everyone goes to the couch and they all look up at E.D.I. on screen demonstrating what to do with the solar panels.

"My idea was to build a solar panel array.', E.D.I. demonstrates building an array of all the panels on a single mount, rotating as the sun goes from morning to night, and when night comes, the array will reset waiting for the following morning, 'If you do this, this will maximize the power need at 100%."

Josh puts his hand under his chin seeing the model to build the solar panel array. He whistles to the idea.

"Not bad E.D.I. It's perfect."

"Can we do something like that?" Elizabeth asks

"It's going to be a big build. And we need to do it. All hands on deck ladies and gentlemen."

Josh walks around to the solar panels stacked together on each other. He picks one up and looks at the elevator.

"Let's bring these to the Factory."

Everyone scatters and brings several of the solar panels down to the Factory.

The Factory…

Josh and everyone carefully lay out all the solar panels on the floor. He looks at all of them and nods.

"Okay, so the way E.D.I. had it shown, she wants us to place six each on a single mount."

"What mount?" Calhoun asks

Josh snaps his fingers.

"There's some spare lumber in the back when we throughout all the garbage inside here. We can build a structure out of that and place the solar panels on them."

"Three up and three down." Elizabeth subjects

Josh nods.

"Exactly. Let's go get those lumber pieces. Ralph."

"Yeah?"

"Give me a hand."

Josh and Ralph head outside. Felix and the women stay staring at the solar panels. About five minutes later, Josh and Ralph return. Josh carries one piece of lumber on his shoulder. Ralph, carries about twenty with no problem. Josh sets down his and Ralph just drops his. He slowly catches his breath.

"Phew…those are heavy."

"They weren't for me." Ralph says walking ahead

Josh chuckles and shakes his head. He walks over to the solar panels.

"Okay…let's do this…"

The team gets to work. Josh builds the lumber up in the frame that E.D.I. instructed on the TV. The solar panels will be attached to the lumber, three on top and three on the bottom. The others copy Josh's doing and get the other solar panels mounted on the lumber. Altogether, with six solar panels on each mount, they have ten panels mounted and secured. Josh looks at them all.

"Okay." Josh says rubbing his head

Elizabeth follows Josh as he checks out all the mounts. Josh nods to the team's success.

"Okay, good work guys."

"Now what?" Calhoun asks walking up behind Josh

"Now we have to build the stand that's going to keep them up to follow the sun."

"How are we going to build that?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns around.

"Were going to build the stand, but the motor that will turn the mounts will be done on E.D.I.'s end."

"Oh."

"She handle's the scientific stuff. So don't sweat to blow a brain vessel now Calhoun." Josh says walking past Calhoun

Calhoun shakes her head. Josh looks back and sees there's only two pieces of lumber left.

"The lumber ain't going to cut it and we only have two pieces left."

Vanellope looks back and sees in the corner of the Factory steel pipes lying on the ground. She narrows her eyes and walks over towards them.

"What are we going to do?" Felix asks

Josh shrugs.

"I don't know Felix. We need something to make the stand and obviously we can't use the lumber.', looks at Elizabeth, 'Can't you bring something to hopefully help us?"

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"That's a real shot in the dark Josh."

Josh makes a face.

"Well it was worth a shot."

Vanellope touches the steel pipes and suddenly they fall down and roll on the floor. They make a loud crash sound and everyone turns at Vanellope's way. Vanellope turns around and puts her hands up.

"I didn't touch it."

Josh narrows his eyes and sees the steel pipes. He slowly smiles.

"Perfect Vanellope."

Vanellope narrows her eyes and Josh walks over towards the pile of steel pipes. He picks one up and sees that these will be perfect for a stand.

"We have found our stand."

Everyone looks at the pipes and bring them over to the mounts. The team gets work contrasting the stands for the mount. They take the pipes and stack them in a triangle formation which will stand up high in the center. They stick a pipe in the middle and weld the other three pipes together. Josh uses his disc blade as a welder as he creates enough electricity to weld the pieces of metal together. But since the pieces of metal are in fact, metal, the electricity shoots out and everyone sort of feels the shock.

"Hurry up Josh!" Calhoun says

"Almost got it."

"Hurry!" Ralph yells

"One more…"

"JOSH!" Elizabeth yells

Josh finishes.

"All done."

As Josh lets go, everyone else falls down. Josh looks back and sees everyone…almost out of it.

"Hate to be the bear of bad news but we got to make nine more of these."

Everyone grunts and moans to the idea.

Several futile miles later…

The gang finishes the last stand. Josh spins around his disc blade and nods.

"Good. Were done."

Ralph sighs really hard and Josh takes notice.

"Too hard for you Ralph?"

"To shocking is more of the word."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"All right. Let's take these stands to the roof and continue on from there."

The gang gets their energy back and head to the Rooftop.

Rooftop…

The gang sets down the last stand and connect the mount to it. Josh backs up and sees all ten stands and mounts aligned together.

"Okay, so now, let's connect the pipe so that they'll all turn at the exact same time."

As Josh picks up the pipe. Everyone looks at each other and just watch Josh. Josh looks back for a split second and sees everyone just standing there.

"Come on."

"No thanks." Vanellope says

Josh blinks and narrows his eyes.

"Seriously guys?"

"You can handle this one on your own." Calhoun states

"A little shock doesn't hurt."

"Easy for you to say." Ralph says

Josh sighs hard and drags the pipe over. He connects the pipes together to the stands and gets them all centered on where the sun is. Josh walks out and looks up at the sun.

"Unlimited power coming from the one main source. I seriously can't wait to see this place actually light up."

"The Earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour, then the entire planet uses in one year." Elizabeth explains

Josh whistles.

"Learn something new every day."

Elizabeth smiles. Josh looks back.

"E.D.I. might be finished with the tracker. Everyone wait here for a second." Josh says walking off the Rooftop

Josh flies down and goes into his Apartment.

Apartment…

Josh flies into his Apartment and lands in front of the TV.

"E.D.I. You finish that tracker?"

E.D.I. pops up on screen.

"Yes. It is at your work station."

Josh turns his head and walks to his work station. He stares at the tracker and sees a strange black box. Josh walks back in front of E.D.I.

"Explain to me how this will work again."

E.D.I. shows up on screen that when the black box is connected to the solar panels, the solar panels will turn in the direction the sun is maximizing the output of unlimited power. If they were simply placed on the ground, they would put out half that kind of output because there not being directed at the sunlight. Josh nods.

"Not bad E.D.I."

"Also since I will be connected to it…"

"Wait, how is that possible?"

"I've created a small part of myself into that system your holding. With a piece of me connected to the solar panels, I will be able to control the energy throughout the Factory."

Josh smiles happily.

"You're my hero E.D.I."

"Thank you Josh."

Josh continues to smile as he walks to his window and flies back up to the Rooftop.

Rooftop…

Everyone waits for Josh's return. Josh flies up and lands. Everyone looks at him as he walks to the solar panels. Josh connects the black box to the solar panels and runs a wire to the cords in the back. He pokes his head out and looks at everyone.

"All right everyone…let's see if this works."

Everyone gets ready. Josh steps back and turns on the black box. A red light turns on indicating the box is on. Then slowly, the solar panels turn in the direction where the sun is. Josh blinks stepping back.

"It's working. It's working!"

Everyone gets happy seeing the solar panels and the plan put into this project is working. Josh crosses his arms and turns at everyone.

"Now we got power running through this whole Factory."

"Let's go check it out." Vanellope says

Josh nods.

"Yeah, let's go check it out. Let's go use some power."

Everyone walks off the Roof and down to the Factory.

The Factory…

Everyone walks out into the Factory as Josh stands at the switchboard to turn on all the lights.

"Okay…everyone ready?" Josh asks touching the switches

Everyone looks back and nods. They all look up and Josh hits the switches.

"Here we go…let there be light!"

Josh hits all the switches and all the lights on the ceiling of the Factory turn on. Everyone gets excited seeing the lights in the Factory all turn on. Josh hits the last one and spins around.

"YES! We have power!"

Everyone claps as Josh flies over to everyone. Josh looks up and sees the Manager's Office light up and figures the rest of the entire Factory will light up as well.

"If the lights in here are working, then everything else in this place is working as well."

"That's wonderful." Felix says

"That's more than just 'wonderful Felix', Felix looks back at Josh, 'This is great. You know why?', Felix narrows his eyes, 'This means you can get to work on the Rooms."

Everyone takes notice to that. Felix twirls his hat around and smiles happily.

"I'm on that brother!" Felix says hopping in the air

Josh claps and slides around.

"And while you're working on the Rooms, everyone but Calhoun is going to help you."

"Why me?" Calhoun asks

Josh sighs and walks forward pulling Calhoun ahead.

"We got our 'own' work to do."

Calhoun narrows her eyes as she now walks on her own following Josh out of the Factory.

Hallways of the Factory…

Josh and Calhoun walk up to one of the entrances to the building. He looks up and sees the lights working and looks back at the door.

"What do you need me for Josh?"

"Security purposes. I figured you have a handful of knowledge on how to secure this place."

Calhoun smiles calmly.

"That I know of Josh."

"Then let's hear it."

"What do you think about locking all the doors to this place?"

Josh thinks for a moment and makes kind of a disgusted face to not exactly liking that idea.

"It's a good idea, but I believe we should have some doors unlocked and some locked."

"Why's that?"

"What if by 'chance' this place gets infested again, we run to one of these doors and it's locked. Anyone of us, depending on who it is, there screwed."

Calhoun nods.

"Right."

"And another thing, the reason I wanted power to go through the entire building is because I'm hoping somehow to point these lights at the doors and entrances."

Calhoun narrows her eyes.

"Why?"

"Darkness is strong. When it's dark here at night, Darkness might be able to just poof right in without even touching the door handle."

"How do you know that?"

Josh makes a face.

"I saw what Darkness did to the street lights. He appeared and disappeared in the dark like it was his job. So I want these lights somehow pointed at the doors so when he thinks he can just 'appear' in here, he's got a flash of light in his eyes and he'll scream like a little girl."

"That's a good idea."

"Let's take these lights down and aim them at the doors."

"You know what we can do?', Josh looks at Calhoun, 'We can set up a motion sensor on the lights, and when something moves in front of it…"

"It will turn on." Josh says

"Exactly."

"Let's inform E.D.I. Now that she's connected to the power of the building, she can scramble around controlling the lights."

"Roger that."

Josh and Calhoun head back to the Apartment.

Apartment…

As Josh and Calhoun enter the Apartment. They find everyone in the Rooms helping Felix build them.

"It seems like everyone is more interested in their living quarters then this places security."

Josh face coughs.

"Didn't you say something funny earlier?', Calhoun makes a face and rubs her eyes, 'Something about a couch?"

"Can it Josh."

Josh puts his hands up and walks over to his work bench.

"Why don't you go oversee the team…', Calhoun turns back at Josh as he sits down, Josh looks back at Calhoun, 'Tell Felix how you want your Room set up. You are going to be sleeping in there after all."

"I'm fine however my Room will be set up."

Josh shrugs.

"Fine. Just so you know. This is Felix.', Calhoun thinks for a second, 'Hope you can crack your back from his height."

Calhoun blinks quickly and looks in the direction of the Rooms. She walks that way and Josh looks. Josh smiles and looks down.

"Women…"

Josh taps his fingers on the work bench and looks around. He looks down and picks up his phone. Josh suddenly gets an idea and turns at E.D.I.

"Communication…E.D.I."

"Yes Josh."

"I need blueprints on how to make ear radio calls."

"You mean 'headsets'?"

Josh shakes his head.

"No. Those things you can put in your ear and hear people talk."

"I see. You want to build one?"

Josh shakes his head once again.

"Nope. I need to make seven of them."

"Very well. I will construct a blueprint with the supplies you have at hand."

Josh nods.

"Thank you E.D.I."

E.D.I. comes up with the blueprints for the ear pieces. Josh examines them and works off what E.D.I. created as she explains on how to build them.

Several hours later…

Josh finishes the last one and cracks his fingers. Small bits of electricity shoot out and Josh sighs.

"I need a Root Beer."

Josh walks over to the Kitchen and grabs a Root Beer. He pops off the top and right before he puts it to his lips, Josh looks around and shrugs.

"Colder is better."

Josh freezes up the Root Beer a bit more and drinks it.

"Much better."

Josh drinks the whole thing and sighs in relief.

"Ahhhh! That hit the spot."

As Josh goes to throw away the bottle, the team comes walking out of the Rooms and Josh notices.

"I want my Room to be bigger Felix!" Vanellope says

"Yours is the biggest Vanellope."

"Well I want it bigger."

"Why?"

"So I can drive around in circles. There's no room for a kart in there."

Felix gets kind of nervous.

"I'll, I'll see what I can do."

Vanellope smiles happily. Josh watches as everyone walks further into the room.

"So how are things going?" Josh asks

Everyone looks ahead. Ralph waves his hands.

"Things are going great Josh. Felix here is the man at building stuff."

"Also fixing things Ralph."

"Well that too. Who knew you had building skills in ya."

Felix chuckles. Josh looks at the couch.

"Everyone have a seat. Team discussion time."

Everyone walks to the couch and sits down. Calhoun, Felix, Elizabeth and Vanellope sit down on the couch. Vanellope looks and sees Elizabeth sitting next to her. She rolls her eyes and tries to move away. Elizabeth looks and sees Vanellope acting funny. Josh walks out in front of everyone while E.D.I. appears on screen behind him.

"So…let's get past all the 'we now have power' plan and focus on the 'security' plan."

"Security plan?" Ralph asks

Josh nods.

"Yeah. We need one. And we need a good one."

Calhoun sits back.

"Josh is right. We have to have some type of plan.', Josh listens in on Calhoun, 'This place is our home. We have to defend it in case a husk attack comes in without our knowing. Right Josh?"

Josh slowly smiles and nods.

"That's correct Sergeant.', Calhoun nods, everyone looks back up at Josh, Josh clears his throat, 'Anyway, we need to stay in touch with each other."

"In touch?" Elizabeth asks

Josh nods.

"Yeah, so E.D.I. and I came up with these.', shows headsets, 'These are small ear pieces. You put them in your ear and you'll be able to speak and hear any one of us when we talk to each other."

"Wow." Felix says

Josh shakes his head.

"I'm set them up with different colors to tell them apart. Ralph. Your red.', Josh tosses the red ear piece to Ralph and he catches it, 'Just put it in your ear."

Ralph stares at the small ear piece and tosses it in his ear. Josh shakes his head.

"That looked easy."

Ralph rubs his ear.

"Kind of annoying. It hurts."

Josh narrows his eyes.

"It hurts?"

"Yeah."

Josh nods and looks down at all the ear pieces.

"How about NOW?!"

Josh yells so hard into the ear pieces Ralph jumps and shakes his head. He waits for a response and Ralph shakes his head.

"Okay…I'm good."

Josh shrugs.

"The amazing power of an echo can move such a small device.', looks down and grabs the gold one, 'Felix. You're golden." Josh says tossing the gold ear piece to Felix

Felix catches it and stares at it.

"Just…put it in my ear?"

"That's why they call it an ear piece."

"Hmm."

Felix stares at it and slowly slides it in his ear. Josh puts up the rest of the ear pieces and whispers into them.

"Can you hear me?"

Felix thumbs up Josh.

"Loud and clear brother."

Josh nods.

"Good. Vanellope.', Vanellope looks at Josh, 'Your green." Josh says tossing the ear piece to Vanellope

Vanellope catches it and stares at it.

"Just put it in your ear." Josh says

Vanellope slides it into her ear and fumbles around with it. Josh and Elizabeth take notice.

"Trouble Vanellope?"

"It…It won't…it won't stay."

Elizabeth looks back at Josh and he looks at her. Josh nods and Elizabeth looks back at Vanellope.

"Here, let me help."

Vanellope jerks away.

"I got it. Just let me do it."

Elizabeth slowly backs up and Vanellope kind of gets it in there.

"Okay. Got it."

Josh nods and talks into the ear piece.

"You sure?" Josh whispers

Vanellope looks funny at Josh and sees she can hear him. Josh smiles.

"Good.', looks at Elizabeth, 'Elizabeth.', Elizabeth looks back at Josh, 'Your blue." Josh says tossing the ear piece

Elizabeth catches it and slides it into her ear. Josh raises the rest.

"Same color as your eyes."

Elizabeth smiles and Josh looks at Calhoun.

"Calhoun. You're black."

Josh tosses the ear piece and Calhoun catches it. Calhoun slides it in her ear.

"Sergeant?" Josh asks into the ear piece

Calhoun nods and Josh sees.

"Great.', sighs hard, 'Whenever Plague gets here.', shows her ear piece, 'She's orange."

Josh holds the glowing orange ear piece. Elizabeth nods.

"Good choice of color."

Josh makes a face.

"I would have picked red.', looks at Ralph, 'But Ralph's red."

"That's right." Ralph says

"What's your color Josh?" Vanellope asks

Everyone looks at Josh and he raises a white ear piece.

"I'm white."

Some of them make faces figuring out that was his choice from the very beginning. Josh stares at his ear piece and slides it in his ear.

"Okay. Now that's done. Now…', clears throat and turns around showing E.D.I. to everyone, 'I want to show you the security plan to the building. E.D.I.?"

E.D.I. disappears and shows a blue print of the building. Everyone sees.

"All right. Calhoun and I discussed that were going to lock and keep some of the entrances to the building open. But most importantly, were going to set up light traps."

"Light traps?" Elizabeth asks

Josh shrugs.

"Defenses incase Darkness tries anything. At night were completely exposed. At night he's possibly at his strongest. So we need 'light traps' at all the entrances in case he tries to come in here."

"So when he tries to get in he'll have to pass up the lights on the ceiling." Ralph says trying to get it

Josh snaps his thumb.

"Exactly. E.D.I. will control the light fixtures. Any sudden movements, the lights will turn on and Darkness won't be able to break them."

"Anything else?" Elizabeth asks

Josh sighs slowly and rubs his nose.

"No more going out by ourselves. We go with someone or as a small group."

"But what about the Factory?" Calhoun asks

Josh puts his hand up.

"I'm getting to that Calhoun. When we need to go out, we have to secure this place. Lock it up, the whole nine yards but if we're just going out, like I said before, someone has to stay back and watch the place over."

"Good idea." Felix states

"Thanks Felix. No matter what, we keep this place secured. This is our home. We have power. We have tools. We have our own trade skills.', everyone nods, 'We've taken down one of the Five. Now there's only four left including Cyrus. We cannot fail on this. Got it?"

"Got it." Ralph says

"Yep. Understood." Felix says

"Mm-hmm." Calhoun says

"Uh-huh." Vanellope says

"Yes Josh."

Josh sighs slowly.

"It's not a perfect world we live in. That's pretty damn obvious. So we don't need to make Cyrus make it any worse than it has to be right?"

The five nod in agreement. Josh turns around and looks up at the TV screen of the blueprint of the Factory. He sighs slowly seeing there one step closer to being prepared for anything Cyrus or the Five have in mind.

End of Chapter 27…

Preview of Chapter 28…

With the power and the security stuff taken over. Felix can continue to finish the Rooms that everyone can sleep in. But when night comes, it gets a little shady at night just around every corner. Josh is a little paranoid wondering thinking Darkness will come but he's got to keep high hopes. But everyone thinks they'll be okay but they don't know how powerful Darkness even is. Maybe they should see what he can do. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph – Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 28 – The Darkness Part 2


	28. Chapter 28 - The Darkness Part 2 (Part 1

Chapter 28 – The Darkness Part 2 (Part 1)

Later that night…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh slowly walks out into the Living Room and sees everyone sleeping. He shakes his head and looks towards everyone Rooms. Josh walks through the hallways of the Rooms and sees how far Felix got to rebuilding and constructing them to everyone's tastes.

"Not bad Felix. Not bad at all."

Josh continues through the Rooms and finally decides to head back to the Apartment. As Josh re-enters the Apartment, he sees Elizabeth sleeping on the counter, with her head down using her arms as a pillow while sitting on the stool. Josh sort of smiles and shakes his head. He walks ahead and past Elizabeth. Josh looks at everyone else. Everyone's sleeping the same way as usual, Calhoun and Felix on the couch. Felix sleeps on top of Calhoun. Josh looks right and sees Vanellope sleeping on Ralph's stomach. Ralph just sleeps with his arms and legs spread out, softly snoring. Josh rubs his ear.

"Ralph…geez…put a sock in it will ya?"

Vanellope moans and covers her ears with her hoody. She's not liking Ralph's snoring and Josh looks back.

"Hmmm.."

Josh walks over to Vanellope and slowly picks her up. He holds her gently and carries her to his room.

"Come on sleeping beauty…"

Josh goes to his room and places Vanellope on his bed. Vanellope curls up and Josh slides off her hoody.

"Wait…just one more touch…', Josh lifts up Vanellope's head and takes out her ear piece, he wipes it off on his shirt and places it on his stand, Josh takes his blanket and covers Vanellope, 'There." Josh says with a smile

Josh quietly walks out of the room with his staff in his hand. Back out in the Apartment, Josh sees everyone still asleep. Josh gulps slowly and looks down at his right hand. He remembers the painful feeling when Darkness got to him. Josh looks serious and clenches his fist hard. He walks towards the elevator to head up to the Rooftop, but as Josh goes to the elevator shaft, his staff hits the floor hard and makes a loud sound.

"Son of a…" Josh says looking back

Josh looks back to see if anyone woke up. Everyone still asleep. Josh sighs in relief and picks up his staff. Elizabeth sniffs and turns her head. She slowly opens her eyes seeing Josh enter the elevator shaft sideways and slowly lifts her head up.

"Josh?" Elizabeth says half asleep

Josh flies up the shaft and Elizabeth yawns.

Rooftop…

Josh walks on the gravel Roof and past the solar panels. They divert back to their starting position when the sun comes up in the morning. Josh sees the red light blinking of the box that he attached to where E.D.I. 'controls' the panels and the electricity throughout the Factory. Josh walks closer to the edge and looks down at how high he is. He whistles and steps back.

"One slip and I'm splat…yeah right."

Josh stretches his arms and suddenly light thunder strikes in the clouds above. He takes notice of this and looks at his hands.

"Huh…"

Josh raises his hands even higher and gets the feeling of a lighting storm in the clouds.

"Come on…"

Josh clenches his fists harder and thunder strikes really hard. Behind Josh, Elizabeth walks up behind watching what Josh is doing. Josh picks up his staff and points it at the night sky. Thunder strikes close to Josh and almost hits his staff. Josh holds his staff even more high up and Elizabeth sees what Josh is doing.

"Josh!"

Josh looks back and sees its Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth?"

Thunder strikes and Josh looks back.

"Whoa!"

The lighting almost hits Josh and strikes near his foot. Josh flies around and slowly lands back on the ground. Elizabeth watches with a narrowed eye look on her face and Josh spins his staff around trying to be cheerful about what just happened.

"Elizabeth…when I'm trying to control a storm, it's a good idea not to you know…distract me."

Elizabeth shakes her head and walks forward.

"I'm sorry; I did not know what you were doing."

Josh nods.

"Well now you do.', Elizabeth walks closer to Josh and he looks back, 'What are you doing up? It's late."

Elizabeth crosses her arms.

"I can ask you the same thing."

Josh shakes his head with a smirk.

"No. No more questions out of you today. Please."

Elizabeth flinches back.

"What?"

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and sees her lost.

"Elizabeth…you ask a lot of questions. Come on."

Elizabeth shrugs.

"So what if I do?"

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and closes his eyes.

"Small price to pay I guess."

Josh sighs and looks over the edge. Elizabeth sees Josh just looking over the edge as if he's looking for someone.

"What are you really doing up here Josh?"

Josh blinks for a moment, but doesn't turn around.

"Call me paranoid…but I just have that feeling Darkness is out there just waiting to 'appear' in here."

"With the security measures you showed us this morning, things should be okay."

Josh nods and looks back.

"'Should'? I love that work. It's not close to the words 'for sure' so it's not reassuring."

"I apologize but you can only do so much Josh."

Josh nods making a funny look on his face.

"I just don't want my arm ripped off again. I can still feel the pain from that day looming around in my head."

Elizabeth tilts her head as she watches Josh rub his right shoulder.

"Does it still hurt? Let me have a look."

Josh waves his hand.

"I'm fine, it's nothing."

"Oh stop it now."

Elizabeth grabs Josh's arm and he looks.

"Seriously Elizabeth I'm fine." Josh says pulling away

Elizabeth takes notice of something.

"For being such a 'tough' guy you sure do complain a lot."

Josh rubs his eyes and looks back at Elizabeth.

"And you being such a…"

Josh pauses and shakes his head. Elizabeth looks lost at Josh.

"What?"

Josh shakes his head.

"Nothing. I said nothing."

"You were going to say something."

"It's nothing Elizabeth."

"What?', Josh turns back around and sees Elizabeth serious, 'Go on. I'm a big girl. Say it."

Josh sighs and shrugs.

"All right. What I was going to say was…"

As Josh is about to say it, suddenly a snow flake lands on top of Josh's head.

"Huh?"

Josh looks up and so does Elizabeth.

"Really?" Josh asks

Elizabeth narrows her eyes and sees it kind of snowing around the two. She softly gasps and Josh crosses his arms.

"Figures."

It starts to snow a bit. Josh shakes his head and brushes off the snow off his shoulders.

"Winter came early this year huh?"

Elizabeth looks back at Josh.

"I had nothing to do with this."

Josh makes a face.

"Well I didn't. I'm not letting off and chills."

"You think I am?"

"Well the only two people I know who can do this are standing right here. I sure as hell know that it's not me."

"It's not me Josh." Elizabeth says with a firm look on her face

Josh looks back up and thinks for a moment. He nods and brushes more snow off.

"Then I guess it's us just doing it."

"Why?"

"I guess when were close to each other a…'blizzard' starts."

"Hmmm."

Josh looks back at Elizabeth and looks down.

"Princess.', Elizabeth narrows her eyes, Josh looks back up at Elizabeth, 'That's what I was going to call you."

Elizabeth blinks hearing what Josh was about to call her.

"'Princess'? You sound just like Plague."

Josh sighs.

"And I don't mean it in the way as Plague says it."

"Then how do you mean it Josh."

Josh sighs even harder and looks around as if the answer is flying around.

"A little boy named Tommy said it."

"The little boy from the Arcade?"

"Yes. Same one. Before all this. He referred you to as a 'princess' because in the game…Hero would come break you out and you would help him fight Cyrus. It's a short conversation I had with him. I hardly even remember it. I'm still surprised that he found any information about that damn game anyway."

"Tommy…', Josh looks back at Elizabeth, 'Who is he?"

Josh smiles and shakes his head.

"He's me when I was younger.', Elizabeth blinks to that answer, 'Just like me when I was little." Josh says walking away

Elizabeth watches as Josh leaves the Rooftop.

"Josh."

Josh stops and turns around.

"Yeah?"

Elizabeth thinks for a moment and shakes her head calmly.

"Nothing."

Josh blinks and shrugs.

"Okay."

Josh walks away and Elizabeth looks down. Elizabeth expresses a face like she wanted to say something but didn't have the guts to spill it out.

Following Day…

Josh's Apartment…

Josh's Room…

Vanellope yawns and spins around. She feels Josh's bed and slowly jumps up.

"Huh?', looks around, 'Where am I?"

Josh suddenly enters his Room and sees Vanellope is up.

"Hey sleepy head. Come on, breakfast is ready."

Vanellope looks down like she's totally lost. Josh sees and waves his hand.

"This is my Room Vanellope.', Vanellope looks back at Josh, 'I think sleeping on Ralph takes its toll?"

Vanellope nods and Josh leaves the door open. She jumps off of the bed and walks out into the Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

As Vanellope walks out into the Apartment, she sees that everyone is up. Josh pours Felix a cup of coffee and Felix stares at it.

"What is this again Josh?"

"Coffee Felix."

"Ahh, the 'rush' I need?"

Josh somewhat gets a little nervous.

"Well that's decaf but I hope it doesn't give off the 'rush' I need."

Felix looks confused.

"What do you mean?"

Josh sighs.

"Well Felix. The way you act, giving coffee to you is like giving coffee to a hamster. It's just going to be…wild."

"I think I can handle it."

Josh puts his hands up.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Felix takes a deep breath through his nose and drinks the coffee. Josh watches as Felix chugs the whole thing.

"Oh boy…"

Felix licks his lips and looks around.

"Mmm. Not bad."

Josh gulps nervously as Elizabeth looks setting down a plate.

"Uhh…Felix? You feeling alright?"

Calhoun walks up alongside Felix.

"What's going on?"

"Calhoun. Step back." Josh orders

"Why?"

Felix suddenly jumps. Everyone sees. Ralph grabs his plate and steps back.

"Felix?" Ralph asks

Felix's eyes start spinning around. Josh backs up and so does Elizabeth. Vanellope watches and suddenly Felix jumps high in the air and zips out of the room like Sonic. Felix runs into the Rooms and gets to work. Banging, knocking, drilling, and any kind of construction sound is heard in the Rooms in back. Everyone looks and Josh picks up the mug Felix was drinking out of.

"Hamster on coffee, that's what I said."

"Josh…" Calhoun says

"Don't worry Calhoun. He'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive. It's decaf. It should wear off in…a few hours."

"Horus? Felix is going to be like that for a 'few hours'?"

"At least he'll get the rooms done quicker." Elizabeth states

Josh snaps his thumbs.

"Exactly."

Elizabeth nods with a smile. Vanellope hops on the stool and Josh sees.

"Got a surprise for you Vanellope."

Vanellope gulps.

"Oatmeal?"

Josh shakes his head and looks back at Elizabeth. Elizabeth sees and the two nod.

"Nope. No oatmeal today Vanellope."

Vanellope smiles happily.

"Sweat."

Josh sets down Vanellope's breakfast and she stares at it.

"What…is this?"

Josh nods and leans forward.

"What you have in front of you Vanellope are eggs and bacon."

"Huh?"

Josh sighs slowly.

"You need meat on those bones of yours. It can't be just simple foods."

Vanellope slams her head on the counter and Josh flinches.

"I'm going to die here."

Josh shakes his head and picks up Vanellope's head.

"Unless you're going to starve to death, I don't see any other way. So eat up."

Vanellope sighs annoyingly and Josh looks around.

"Okay, this, that…oh yeah.', looks around, 'Has anyone seen Plague?"

Elizabeth, Calhoun and Ralph look at Josh. They don't say anything and Josh sees.

"I'll take that as a no then."

"Where is she? I haven't seen her in days almost." Calhoun says

"She told me she wants to see the world before Cyrus takes it over. Some B.S. like that."

"Before the world gets taken over? She's not full of confidence is she?" Elizabeth asks

Josh shrugs.

"She's full of something that's for sure."

As Josh walks forward with a cup of coffee. Plague SWOOSHES in almost tackling Josh so he flies up with the cup of coffee in his hand and everyone looks at the half past drunk Plague lying on the floor with a drunken look on her face.

"UHhhhh…" Plague says

Josh slowly flies back down and wipes his hand off from the spill when he jumped up with the coffee.

"Plague?"

"Uhhhh…" Plague moans

Josh gets serious.

"Plague!"

Plague covers her ears.

"Shhhh, shhhh, shhh….SHHHH….to….loud." Plague whispers

Josh narrows his eyes and looks back at everyone at the Kitchen. He looks back down at Plague.

"Plague? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's…wrong…just…very tired."

"Tired huh?"

Josh notices something in Plague's hand. He pulls it out of her grasp with his staff and throws it up with it seeing it's an empty glass bottle of booze. Josh looks back down at Plague.

"Have a fun night last night?"

"Nice party…great party…best fun I've had since I've been here."

Josh nods.

"Uh-huh…Plague. How much did you drink?"

Plague slowly lifts her head up and she acts like it weights a thousand pounds.

"Enough."

"Enough? Did you drink this bottle?" Josh asks showing the bottle

Plague stares at it…barely and puts her head back down on the floor.

"Yes."

"The whole thing?"

"Yes."

"It's empty."

"It's empty? Oh boy…"

Josh sighs slowly and shakes his head. He looks back at Elizabeth and she rolls her eyes. Josh looks back down at Plague and kneels down.

"Plague?"

"Mmm?"

"Get up."

"No." Plague says digging her head into the floor

"Plague."

"Need….rest."

Josh sighs.

"You need something to eat."

"Leave alone."

"You're getting something to eat."

"Leave me alone."

Josh sighs and picks up Plague. She struggles a bit and Josh gets her to the elevator.

"Will be back in a few. Hold the fort down."

Elizabeth nods.

"Sure Josh."

Vanellope looks and stops eating.

"Can I come?"

Josh looks back.

"I'm just going to get some food for the layback here."

Plague rubs her head.

"I'm standing right here."

"I know. Next time Vanellope."

Josh closes the elevator door and the two go down. Vanellope watches and puts her hands in her hoody.

The Garage…

Josh and Plague walk to the car. Plague swooshes in the passenger seat and Josh hops in normally. The second he turns on the car the radio blasts. Plague flinches and covers her ears.

"Turn that shit off!"

Josh smiles and plays dumb.

"What? I can't hear you!', Plague makes a face at Josh, 'I can't hear you the music is to loud!"

Plague punches the screen and the music turns off. Josh blinks and shrugs it off.

"That's one way to turn off the radio."

Plague smirks and continues to rub her head. Josh floors it and speeds out of the Garage.

Half an Hour Later…

Streets…

Josh drives back home with the top down. Plague eats her burrito Josh got for her to help get her more out of the hangover state. She eats the burrito and looks at Josh.

"Why a burrito?"

"Is it helping?"

Plague looks at the food and shrugs.

"Kind of."

Josh nods.

"Then it's working."

Plague shakes her head as she looks around to put her drink in a cup holder.

"Where's the cup holder? I'm tired of holding this drink."

Josh looks and back at the road.

"There isn't one."

Plague looks at Josh with a shocked look on her face.

"There's no cup holder?"

"No. There's no cup holder."

"What kind of shit is this?"

"There's no cup holder, what's the big deal?

"What's the point of stealing a car that has no damn cup holder in it?"

"I didn't steal this car I borrowed."

"You say tomato…"

"Just hold the drink Plague. Quit complaining."

"Complaining? You haven't seen me start complaining Josh."

"Just eat your burrito and get better fast. I'm in no mood to see you with a hangover."

"Whatever….', Josh continues to drive, Plague shakes her head, '$60,000 for a frickin car and it has no damn cup holder."

"Hey, I looked this Camaro up, it's a Limited Edition."

"No shit it's a Limited Edition. It's got no damn cup holder."

"Again with the cup holder. And by the way this car is worth $80,000. Now with the screen crack you knocked off 5,000."

"It's a car with an engine, two seats and four tries. Some idiot spent 80,000 for a car."

"And what would you have done?"

"Easy. Stole it."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Go figure."

Plague bites her burrito. Behind the two as Josh drives away, a black sedan follows. Josh hits a bump and Plague's drink spills a bit everywhere, some of it lands on Josh. Josh jumps feeling the liquid.

"Ow!" Josh says swerving

Plague looks.

"Whoops."

Josh looks pissed and pulls over. The black sedan behind them pulls over to. Josh sighs really hard and looks at Plague. Plague sees the look on Josh's face.

"Clean it. NOW."

"What do I look like a maid? How the hell do you want me to clean it?"

"You got fire coming out of your hands, dry it. Heat it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what to do next."

The two continue to argue. Back with the black sedan, the back door opens up and a hot sexy girl walks out. She walks to the Camaro. Back with Josh and Plague, they continue to argue over the spill.

"Dry me."

"Dry you?"

"Yeah! You see that. It looks like I just pissed myself. Dry it up!"

"Actually now that you say it, it does look like you pissed yourself."

"I'm not your Father who cleans up after yourself, dry it Plague!"

"You want me to dry you off? How about I burn you to a crisp that always works."

"You only get to dry me. Burning me to a crisp will cost you extra."

"Oh, ha, ha."

The girl walks up in front of the car.

"Dry it off or swoosh back to the Apartment.', Josh turns his head, 'This is not up for a discuss…"

Josh sees the girl as she takes off her glasses.

"What do we have here?" Josh whispers

"Josh. Josh!" Plague yells

"One second, just one second."

Two tough looking guys from the sedan get out and approach Josh and Plague from behind with guns. Josh tilts his head as the girl walks across the street and suddenly the two guys come up and point their guns at Josh and Plague's head.

"Get out of the car!" Thug yells

Josh blinks and turns his head. He sees the gun in his face.

"Seriously?"

Plague narrows her eyes and looks forward.

"What the hell is this shit?" Plague asks looking around

"Today's our lucky day; we got ourselves a $70,000 car." Thug says

Josh clears his throat.

"It's actually $80,000."

"Even better. Now get out of the car." Thug says politely

Josh sighs and rolls his eyes. Plague looks back at the guy who has the gun on her.

"Holy shit. What can you bench, like 250 or something? I bet you're that kind of guy who eats or drinks those powder muscle drinks huh?"

Josh shakes his head. The Thug pointing the gun at Josh gets annoyed.

"I said get out of the car!"

"Easy, easy…" Josh says

Plague turns back at Josh.

"Why does this always happen when I'm around you Josh?"

"Can it Plague."

"GET OUT OF THE DAMN CAR!"

Josh and Plague get out of the car.

"All right, all right! Shut up!" Plague yells

Josh and Plague stand in front of the doors. The Thugs continue to point their guns at them. Josh shakes his hands.

"You're not going to believe me but I'm just going to say it anyway. Right now you do not want to rob us."

"Why's that?" Thug asks

"Because were two very dangerous people and obviously you do not know who I am."

The Thug laughs.

"Guess what? So am I! That's why I'm taking your car!"

"Mind if I say something please?', Plague raises her hand, 'I don't like to be the hero or anything but I just want to state this. I just happen to hang out with my stupid ass friend.', Josh's eye twitches, 'Who drives a stupid ass, flashy ass car!', Josh's hand twitches, 'Who attracts all the most unwanted attention ever!"

Josh slams his hand on the door of the car.

"You're lucky that this guy has a gun on my back otherwise I'd jump over this car and smack that look off your face!"

Plague turns around and the two start to get into it. The Thugs look at each other wondering what's going on.

"Were going to start this again? It's not my fault that your face is posted up everywhere in this crap whole world! And don't forget, you're the one who was bitching about how you looked like you pissed yourself!"

"Plague!"

"HEY!" Thug yells

"Shut the hell up!" Muscle Bound Thug yells

Plague turns around.

"HEY! I'm yelling at Josh here! Wait your frickin turn!"

Josh points at Plague.

"You know what your biggest problem is?! It's your lack of respect of respecting others!"

Plague smirks still holding her drink.

"You want some of this Josh? You want a piece of me!?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah, but first…"

"But first…" Plague says

Plague spins around and slams her drink into the Muscle Bound Thug. Josh spins around and drops the guy and throws him into the ground. Plague spins around and spins kick the Thug hard in the face. Josh picks up his staff from the backseat and places it on the guy.

"Shocking huh?"

Josh shocks the guy a bit and he jumps around.

"Told you I'm dangerous right?"

Plague knees the guy in the face and he falls backwards. She wipes her hands off from the spilled drink.

"You made me spill my drink!"

Josh twirls his staff around and tosses it in the back.

"Get in. I'll get you another one."

Plague rolls her eyes and hops in. Josh floors it and drives back to the Apartment.

Josh's Apartment…

Vanellope looks out the window. Just waiting for Josh to return. Suddenly Elizabeth comes by as well and looks out the window too. Vanellope looks up and Elizabeth looks down.

"He'll be back. Don't worry."

Vanellope shakes her head and walks away.

"I know that. You don't have to tell me."

Elizabeth watches Vanellope walk away with a concerned look on her face. She wonders what she said was…wrong? Suddenly the elevator makes some sound indicating someone is coming up. Vanellope looks and rushes over. Elizabeth watches as the elevator's door gets thrown up and Josh and Plague walk out.

"Josh!"

Plague walks ahead and Josh stops as Vanellope runs in front of him.

"I was only gone for forty five minutes."

Vanellope shrugs.

"It seems longer."

Josh nods. Plauge leans against the counter.

"And within that time it only took that long for Josh to get into trouble."

Josh rolls his eyes.

"Plague…"

Elizabeth walks in to the conversation.

"What happened?"

Josh sighs as he walks to the fridge. Plague looks at Josh in a bizarre way.

"Shall I tell her or do you?"

Josh turns around as he tips off the Root Beer. He shrugs.

"Go right ahead Plague."

Plague bobs her head back at Elizabeth.

"We almost got carjacked."

Elizabeth flinches softly and Vanellope looks confused.

"Car…jacked?" Vanellope asks tilting her head

Josh rubs his eyes.

"Oh boy…"

"Really?" Elizabeth asks

"What's 'carjacked'?"

"Vanellope, you see…" Josh says

"It's when someone steals a car when someone's already in it. That's what carjacked means kid." Plague explains

Josh sighs. Vanellope blinks and looks at Josh.

"Really?" Vanellope asks

Josh sighs.

"Hate to say it Vanellope, but yeah. We almost got carjacked."

Elizabeth shakes her head.

"Wait, you keep saying 'almost'. What happened?"

Josh puts the Root Beer down.

"The guys had us at gun point. We started arguing with each other. They didn't like it and then we surprised them with small attacks of our own." Josh explains

"You didn't hurt them to badly did you?" Elizabeth asks

"No, no. Of course no…"

"They tried to rob us, there damn lucky they didn't get any more from us. Did you not hear me say they pointed guns at us?"

Elizabeth remains cool as Plague looks like she's ready to fight.

"They don't need to be sent to the hospital or anything. They are not our enemy Plague."

"Anyone who threatens me gets a slice off their head. No hesitation needed."

Elizabeth looks worried.

"Plague…you didn't."

Plague rolls her eyes.

"NO! I didn't. These two guys were losers, they…', Plague realizes and turns around, 'Why am I explaining myself to you. I'm out of here."

Josh almost chokes and looks back.

"You're not going anywhere."

Plague looks back as she almost swooshes out of there.

"I don't need permission to come and go when I want."

"Plague, this is a team. There's no 'I' in team here."

"You start talking like that I'll look at you like I do towards princess there."

Josh looks at Elizabeth and she looks back. He looks back at Plague.

"Plague. I'm tired of you going off on your own."

"Oooh. Worried about me?"

"In a way, yes.', both Elizabeth and Vanellope look at Josh, 'As long as you're here, you need to follow some rules."

"This again?" Plague asks with an annoying look on her face

"Fine. If you're not going to listen, take this." Josh says tossing Plague's earpiece

Plague catches it and stares at it.

"The hells this?"

"Your earpiece. Put it in your ear and…"

"The name explains it all."

Josh bites his lip.

"You're orange. So."

"Orange? These things have colors?"

"Yes. We all have our own."

"I want red."

"You can't have red. Ralph's red."

"I don't care. I want red."

"You can't HAVE red. Ralph's red."

"Do I look like an orange to you?"

"Your Father does." Elizabeth states

Plague looks funny at Elizabeth and tosses the earpiece in her pocket.

"See ya."

"Plague!" Josh yells

Plague swooshes and Josh shakes his head.

"I don't know who's worse, her or her father."

"Is that even an argument?" Vanellope asks

Josh sighs and rubs his eyes.

"I don't know. Felix still working?"

"Yes. He's working rather quickly." Elizabeth explains

Josh nods.

"Thought so. Ralph and Calhoun?"

"Downstairs. Just…working out." Vanellope explains

Josh nods.

"I see.', Josh takes a moment and thinks, 'We can either help Felix or do whatever Ralph and Calhoun are doing. What do you two want to do?"

Elizabeth and Vanellope both blink and look at each other. They look back at Josh.

(Same time)

"You're asking us?"

Josh nods.

"Yeah, I don't care. I'm up for anything."

Josh leans back up against the contour and waits for a reply by the one of them.

F.B.I. Headquarters…

Nathan sits around his desk and stares up at the wall with his hands on his head. He turns his head and looks at a Rookie staring at a monitor.

"Any news of Josh Litwak's whereabouts?" Nathan asks with a tired look

The Rookie turns her head.

"Nothing yet Agent Winter."

Nathan sighs hard.

"Dammit…"

Nathan tosses a pen at his computer and stares at the blank monitor. He looks off to the side and sees a coffee machine. Nathan looks at the time and gets up to get a cup. Back at his desk, his computer suddenly switches on showing on screen 'Do You Want To Know Where Josh Litwak is?'. Nathan comes back stirring the contents of the coffee. He sits down and takes a sip but the coffee is really hot.

"Oooh! That's hot."

Nathan blows on it and looks up at the screen while drinking the cup. He completely pauses what he's staring at.

"Hmm?"

Without realizing the coffee spills and lands on his crotch which burns like hell.

"OH! Son of a!" Nathan yells jumping up

People around take notice what Nathan just did. Nathan pats himself and looks around.

"What?"

The people around go back to doing what they're doing. Nathan sits back down and stares at his monitor.

"'Do You Want To Know Where Josh Litwak is?'?', looks around, 'Is this some kind of joke?"

Nathan peers down at his mouse and slowly grabs it. He drags the pointer over the phrase and clicks on it. Suddenly Nathan's computer shuts down and turns back on. Nathan sits back and suddenly security footage shows where Josh will be in fifteen minutes.

"Now this must be a joke."

Nathan sits back as the timer goes down.

Josh's Apartment…

Dusk…

Everyone walks back into the Apartment. Felix limps his way and falls face first on the couch. Josh looks down and sees Felix just literally crashing.

"You okay Felix?"

Felix moans and slowly lifts his hand up.

"I'll take that as a 'no'."

"No…." Felix says weakly

Josh nods.

"I know Felix."

"No…more…coffee."

Josh thinks for a second.

"Oh. That's what you meant. Okay. No more coffee for you then."

Calhoun picks up Felix and sits him up straight. Josh sits down and so does everyone else. Ralph on the other hand just sits on the floor. Josh nods thinking how much got done today.

"We got a lot stuff done. The Rooms are about finished. Thanks to Felix's super-duper speed."

"Uhhhh." Felix says rubbing his head

Calhoun tries to comfort Felix. Josh looks up at the TV.

"Things probably would get done faster if fireball was here." Calhoun comments

Josh nods and shrugs.

"Do you really think Plague would have helped out?"

Calhoun thinks for a moment.

"No."

Josh nods.

"Exactly."

"She's gone again. And we don't know where she is." Elizabeth states

Josh snaps his thumb.

"Not exactly Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looks funny at Josh and so does everyone else. Josh looks back up at the TV.

"E.D.I., bring up Plague's earpiece please."

"Yes Josh."

E.D.I. brings up the location beacon of where exactly Plague's at. Plague's the orange circle on screen. Everyone looks and Vanellope looks confused.

"That's Plague?"

"Yep."

"She's really orange." Vanellope states

"That's the color of her earpiece."

"Where is this Josh?" Elizabeth asks

Josh looks closer. He looks annoyed and shakes his head.

"A liquor store."

Elizabeth shakes her head. Josh sighs and gets up.

"I guess I'll go and get her." Josh says walking to the elevator

Everyone looks back and watch Josh go towards the elevator.

"Is it necessary?" Calhoun asks

Josh turns around.

"It's going to be dark in a half an hour."

"33 minutes and 25 seconds Josh." E.D.I. says

Josh nods.

"Thanks E.D.I. Darkness will be out and probably look for Plague himself. I don't know. It's a long shot but Plague should be here where it's secured."

Elizabeth blinks and looks down. She nods and looks back up.

"I'll come with you.', Vanellope looks at Elizabeth, 'Just in case."

Josh nods.

"Yeah. I said we can't go out no more alone."

Elizabeth walks to Josh and Vanellope jumps off the couch.

"I'll come with too."

Josh and Elizabeth look at Vanellope.

"Vanellope. Really?" Josh asks

"I'm not staying back again. This should be a piece of cake."

"Vanellope…" Elizabeth says

"I'm not hearing this from you. Come on Josh let me go."

Josh sighs and looks at Elizabeth. Elizabeth looks at Josh and she shakes her head. Josh looks back down at Vanellope.

"You really want to come?"

Vanellope nods. Josh gulps and looks around.

"Fine. Come on."

Vanellope smiles happily.

"Yes!"

Elizabeth looks all confused as Josh looks calm about the whole idea.

"Josh…', Josh looks back at Elizabeth, 'You sure about this?"

Josh shrugs.

"Were picking up Plague and coming back home. With my luck it should be a piece of cake."

Josh walks to the elevator and Elizabeth still looks a bit worried.

"With your luck, that's what I'm most worried about."

Elizabeth walks to the elevator too as Josh shuts the door. Calhoun crosses her arms leaning against the couch.

"What do you want us to do in the mean time?"

Josh looks through the cracks of the elevator door.

"Hold the fort down."

Calhoun nods. Josh hits the switch and the three go down.

End of Chapter 28…

Preview of Chapter 29…

So Josh, Vanellope and Elizabeth go get Plague before night comes. But that turns out to be more surprising then it is when Josh and them get cornered by Nathan and his team. But only to make matters worse, Darkness toys around with Josh and the feds playing a small game of cat and mouse. So now with night upon everyone, it's hard for Josh to even see his hand right in front of his face. Next time on Wreck-It Ralph: Cyrus the Virus, Chapter 29 – The Darkness Part 2 (Part 2)


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